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T  H  O  U  G  H  T  S  ^„, 

V 


ON  THE 


Decalogue. 


BY 


HOWARD   CROSBY, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FOURTH  AVENUE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 
NEW  YORK. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

1334  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by 

THE   TRUSTEES   OF   THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  attd  Electrotypers,  Fhila. 


CONTENTS 


PAGH 

THE   PREAMBLE 5 


THE   Fn<ST   COMMANDMENT 23 

THE   SECOND   COMMANDMENT 41 

THE   THIRD    COMMANDMENT 61 

i 

THE   FOURTH   COMMANDMENT 78  ' 

THE   FIFTH    COMMANDMENT 106 

THE   SIXTH,    SEVENTH,   EIGHTH   AND   NINTH 

COMMANDMENTS 129  \ 


THE  TENTH   COMMANDMENT 147 

3 


fl     \ 


Thoughts  on  the  Decalogue. 


The  Preamble 

I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage. — Exodus  xx.  2. 

GOD  has  several  times  spoken  directly 
to  men  without  the  agency  of  inspira- 
tion, using  some  power  in  nature  other  than 
a  rational  medium.  Thus  has  he  spoken  to 
Moses,  to  Elijah  and  Job,  to  the  apostles  on 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  and  to  Paul 
near  Damascus. 

But  although  God  has  thus  frequently 
spoken  to  men,  he  has  but  once  written  a 
messaoe  to  his  creatures.  The  Decaloofue 
Stands  alone  as  God's  manuscript.  Of  it 
it    is    said,  "The    Lord    said    unto    Moses, 


O  THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

'Come  up  to  me  in  the  mount  and  be 
there,  and  I  will  give  thee  tables  of  stone 
and  a  law  and  commandments  (that  is,  a 
law  of  commandments)  zuhich  I  have  lurit- 
ien^  "  and  then  afterward  it  is  said,  "  And 
he  eave  unto  Moses,  when  he  had  made  an 
end  of  communing  with  him  upon  Mount 
Sinai,  two  tables  of  testimony,  written  with 
the  finger  of  God!' 

Still  again  it  is  said,  "And  Moses  turned 
and  went  down  from  the  mount,  and  the 
two  tables  of  the  testimony  were  in  his 
hand :  the  tables  were  written  on  both  their 
sides ;  on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other 
were  they  written.  And  the  tables  were 
the  work  of  God,  and  the  writing  was  the 
wiHting  of  God,  graven  upon  the  tables." 

These  are  the  accounts  in  the  Book 
of  Exodus.  Afterward,  in  Deuteronomy, 
Moses  recapitulates  to  Israel  God's  ways 
with  them,  and  then,  at  the  close  of  their 
desert  life  of  forty  years,  the  venerable 
leader  of  Israel  says  of  the  scene  at  Sinai, 


THE   PREAMBLE.  7 

"  The  Lord  spake  with  you  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire ;  ye  heard  the  voice  of  the 
words,  but  saw  no  simiHtude ;  only  ye  heard 
a  voice,  and  he  declared  unto  you  his  cove- 
nant, which  he  commanded  you  to  perform, 
even  ten  commandments ;  and  he  zvrote 
them  tipon  two  tables  of  stone."  Then, 
after  repeating  the  ten  commandments,  he 
says,  "These  words  the  Lord  spake  unto 
all  your  assembly  in  the  mount  out  of  the 
midst  of  the  fire,  of  the  cloud  and  of  the 
thick  darkness,  with  a  great  voice,  and  he 
added  no  more ;  and  he  wrote  them  in  two 
tables  of  stone  and  delivered  them  unto 
me." 

These  tables  thus  prepared  were  broken 
by  Moses  beneath  the  mount  under  a  right- 
eous impulse  of  indignation  at  Israel's  fear- 
ful sin.  But  he  was  again  called  up  to  the 
top  of  Sinai,  and  the  order  he  received  is 
thus  given  by  Moses  himself: 

"At  that  time  the  Lord  said  unto  me, 
'  Hew  thee  two  tables  of  stone  like  unto  the 


8  THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

first,  and  come  up  unto  me  Into  the  mount, 
.  .  .  and  /  will  write  on  the  tables  the  words 
that  were  in  the  first  tables  which  thou 
brakest ;  .  .  .  and  I  hewed  two  tables  of 
stone  like  unto  the  first,  and  went  up  into 
the  mount,  having  the  two  tables  in  my 
hand ;  and  he  wrote  on  the  tables,  according 
to  the  first  writing,  the  ten  commandments ^ 

So  these  second  tables,  which  were  pre- 
served in  the  ark  nearly  a  thousand  years, 
although  they  were  not  themselves  prepared 
by  God,  as  were  the  first,  but  were  hewn  by 
the  hand  of  Moses,  bore,  nevertheless,  as 
much  as  did  the  first,  the  autograph  of  the 
Almighty.  It  is  this  fact  which  exalts  the 
Decalogue  to  the  very  highest  rank  of  all 
recorded  truth.  It  must  be  truth  of  the 
highest  Importance  to  man  that  receives  so 
distlnoruishincr  a  mark  at  the  hand  of  God. 
We  cannot  restrict  its  application  to  a  single 
people,  a  single  locality  or  a  single  age.  The 
thunderlngs  and  lightnings,  the  trumpet- 
noise  and  smoking  mountain,  formed  a  fit- 


THE  PREAMBLE.  9 

ting  framework  for  the  divine  speech,  and 
indicated  the  Hmits  of  humanity  to  be  the 
sole  limits  of  its  application.  The  rest  of 
the  law  given  to  Israel  had  none  of  this 
awful  majesty  of  publishment.  All  the  de- 
tails of  ceremonial  service  and  civil  order 
were  given  to  the  people  through  the  media- 
tion of  Moses,  spoken  by  him  and  recorded 
by  him.  They  were  evidently  intended  for 
a  special  nation  and  a  limited  period,  and  it 
is  they  of  which  Paul  speaks  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians,  when  he  says  that  "the 
law  was  added  (or  attached)  because  of 
transgressions,  till  the  seed  should  come  to 
whom  the  promise  was  made ;  and  it  was 
ordained  by  angels  in  the  hand  of  a  media- 
tor;" for  the  Decalogue  did  not  pass  from 
God  through  either  angels  or  mediator,  but 
came  direct  from  God  to  all  Israel. 

It  becomes  us,  then,  to  study  with  deep 
reverence  these  words  so  remarkably  given 
— these  spiritual  aerolites  that  sought  our 
earth  directly  from  the  upper  world. 


10  THOUGHTS  ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

We  find,  at  the  very  first  glance,  that  they 
are  exceedingly  simple.  Every  one  can 
readily  receive  and  understand  them — they 
have  relation  to  human  action  in  spheres 
where  human  action  is  universally  found. 
They  are  therefore  exceedingly  practical, 
though  by  no  means  merely  of  outward 
force.  They  relate  to  the  action  of  the 
heart  as  of  the  life.  Loving,  honoring  and 
serving  are  enjoined,  which  directly  regard 
the  affections. 

It  is  a  common  misapprehension  of  the 
ten  commandments  to  restrict  their  mean- 
ing to  overt  action — to  the  visible  life.  The 
rich  young  ruler  who  came  to  Jesus  with 
such  animation,  and  went  away  so  sorrow- 
ful, made  this  mistake.  God's  law  is  not, 
like  man's  law,  a  mere  recognizer  of  the 
overt  and  visible,  but  touches  the  whole 
man,  and  is  therefore  specially  concerned 
with  the  inner  springs  of  life.  It  sees  the 
whole  value  of  the  outward  activity  to  be 
ill  ihe  condition  of  the  soul,  and  hence  the 


THE   PREAMBLE.  II 

apostle,  In  terse  apophthegm,  says,  "  Love 
is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  and  hence  our 
Saviour  translates  the  Avhole  Decalogue 
thus,  using  the  very  words  of  Moses,  and 
using,  too,  a  formula  known  to  the  Jewish 
people :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  with 
all  thy  mind  and  with  all  thy  strength ;  .  .  . 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

Thus  we  see  four  characteristics  of  these 
wonderful  commandments :  first,  their  uni- 
versality ;  secondly,  their  simplicity ;  thirdly, 
their  practicalness  ;  and  fourthly,  their  spirit- 
uality. 

In  regard  to  their  structure  and  analysis, 
they  consist  of  ten  distinct  precepts  and  a 
preface.  Let  us  look  at  the  preface  before 
we  examine  the  first  precept. 

''I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  luhich  have  brought 
thee  out  of  the  laud  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house 
of  bondage y 

Bearing  in  mind  the  universality  of  the 
Decalogue,  this  "  land  of  Egypt"  and  "  house 


12  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

of  bondage  "  must  have  a  far  deeper  and 
wider  signification  than  the  Valley  of  the 
Nile.  We  find,  from  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture, that  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  its  pecu- 
liar relation  to  God's  ancient  people,  became 
typical  and  emblematic  of  that  which  might 
be  oppressive  and  inimical  to  the  truth.  For 
example,  the  great  city  which  destroys  the 
witnesses,  or  rather  holds  their  dead  bodies 
unburied,  as  given  in  the  Apocalypse,  is 
called  "  Egypt."  Rev.  xi.  8.  So  again, 
when  the  prophet  Zechariah  makes  use  of 
the  name  in  the  following  passage,  he  evi- 
dently does  not  intend  the  literal  Egypt, 
which  had  already  lost  its  independence : 
"I  will  bring  them  again  also  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  gather  them  out  of 
Assyria,  and  the  pride  of  Assyria  shall  be 
brought  down,  and  the  sceptre  of  Egypt 
shall  depart  away."  When  the  prophet 
uttered  tliis,  Egypt  had  no  sceptre,  and 
Assyria  no  existence  as  a  nation ;  and  we 
are  forced    to   one  of  two    interpretations, 


THE   PREAMBLE.  13 

either  a  literal  one  which  implies  that  Egypt 
shall  be  again  resuscitated  as  an  independ- 
ent empire  and  Israel  again  dwell  therein, 
and  that  Assyria  shall  be  again  resuscitated 
as  an  independent  empire  and  Israel  again 
be  captive  therein,  or  the  figurative  one 
which  points  to  God's  spiritual  Israel  in  a 
spiritual  captivity  to  a  spiritual  Egypt. 

If  it  be  asked  which  is  to  be  accepted  as 
the  true  interpretation,  I  cannot  see  any 
ground  for  the  literal.  I  believe  that  both 
here  and  elsewhere  in  the  Prophets  Egypt 
is  a  synonym  for  an  ungodly  world,  which 
captivates  the  heart  of  man,  and  from  which 
the  grace  of  God  releases  the  renewed  soul. 

The  law  of  God  is,  therefore,  in  its  holi- 
ness, justice  and  goodness,  held  up  to  those 
who  have  been  delivered  from  the  bondage 
of  sin — those  who  have  been  released  from 
the  spiritual  Egypt.  It  is  not  so  held  up  to 
the  ungodly — they  cannot  love  it,  they  can- 
not see  its  beauty.  The  law  of  God  is  given 
us  as  a  rule  of  life,  not  as  a  means  of  salva- 


14  THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

tion.  By  the  Lord's  telling  us  that  he  has 
already  brought  us  out  of  Egypt  and  bond- 
age, he  does  not  say  when  he  gives  us  the 
law,  "  Do  this  and  live,"  but,  "  Since  ye  live, 
do  this ;"  ''  Since  my  grace  has  redeemed 
you,  and  you  rejoice  in  the  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God,  use  my  law,  the  reflection 
of  my  perfections,  as  your  beloved  guide." 

This  is  the  position  of  the  Decalogue  to 
us.  It  is  not  addressed  to  the  unconverted, 
save  as  a  condemning  law.  All  the  message 
given  to  them  is,  "  Be  reconciled  to  God." 
When  they  look  at  the  law,  they  see  what 
does  not  belong  to  them,  and  so  see  it  all 
awry,  and  they  read  it,  "  Do  this  and  live," 
instead  of,  "Live  and  do  this."  Thus  they 
get  themselves  into  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
in  trying  to  work  out  a  holy  life  from  unholy 
material,  sometimes  deceiving  themselves 
into  thoughts  of  success,  and  sometimes 
giving  way  to  a  despair  which  is  very  legiti- 
mate from  their  premises.  No  ;  we  cannot 
repeat  it  too  oftei>  that  the  law  m  its  love 


THE   PREAMBLE.  1 5 

and  obedience  is  only  for  God's  Israel ;  for 
the  rest  it  is  simply  a  monument  of  con- 
demnation, a  token  that  they  are  unholy 
and  cannot  keep  it. 

The  law  comes  before  the  gospel  his- 
torically and  logically,  but  the  gospel  comes 
before  the  law  biographically  and  practi- 
cally. The  law  is  the  token  and  standard 
of  holiness,  but  the  gospel  is  the  gate  to 
that  holiness. 

We  are  saved  by  the  free  grace  of  God 
which  the  Gospel  proclaims — we  are  saved 
by  simply  letting  Christ  save  us,  by  appro- 
priating his  precious  promises,  by  doing 
nothing,  but  by  believing ;  then,  after  that 
salvation,  we  are  shown  the  holy,  just  and 
good  law  of  God  as  our  rule  of  life,  our 
pattern  of  holiness  ;  and  the  new  nature, 
which  we  have  through  faith  in  Christ,  is 
able  to  appreciate  and  obey  it  with  more  or 
less  perfectness,  according  to  our  amount 
of  faith  and  sanctification.  The  greater  our 
faith,  the  greater  both  our  obedience  to  and 


l6  THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

our  love  ^the  Decalogue.  In  the  triumphs 
of  an  exalted  faith,  we  say  with  David,  "  My 
soul  hath  kept  thy  testimonies,  and  I  love 
them  exceedingly." 

There  is  another  portion  of  the  preface 
to  the  law  which  points  to  this  same  exclu- 
sive application  of  the  law  to  the  people  of 
God.  It  is  this,  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God," 
or,  literally,  "  I  am  Jehovah,  thy  God."  The 
word  "Jehovah"  designates,  not  God  the 
creator  and  general  governor,  not  God  the 
all-powerful,  all-wise,  all-knowing  and  omni- 
present, not  God  in  his  essential  excellence 
and  character,  but  God  the  lover  and  re-; 
deemer  of  his  people,  God  who  promises 
and  brings  salvation,  God  in  his  special 
relation  to  his  own  faithful  ones.  When  he 
delivered  Israel  from  Egypt,  God  first  prac- 
tically disclosed  this  name  as  his  name  to 
his  Israel.  Of  it  he  says  himself  to  Moses, 
when  the  exodus  was  about  to  take  place, 
"  I  am  Jehovah ;  and  I  appeared  unto  i\bra- 
ham,    unto    Isaac    and    unto    Jacob,  by  the 


THE   PREAMBLE.  1 7 

name  of  El  Shaddai  (God  Almighty),  but 
by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to 
them ;  .  .  .  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  am 
Jehovah  your  God  which  bringeth  you  out 
from  under  the  burdens  of  the  Egyptians." 
Now,  the  Decalogue  Is  given  to  those  who 
can  call  God  "  Jehovah  our  God,"  our  special 
Saviour  and  Deliverer  from  sin,  and  to.  none 
else.  Let  this  not  be  misunderstood.  I  am 
not  excusing  any  sinner  from  the  condem- 
nation of  disobedience  and  sin.  They  are 
all  invited  to  make  God  ''Jehovah  their 
God,"  and  for  rejecting  that  Invitation  they 
must  suffer  the  just  results  of  their  depravity 
and  sin.  But  It  is  only  when  the  heart  re- 
cognizes Jehovah  as  Its  own  God,  when  it 
comes  over  and  joins  the  true  Israel,  that 
the  law  can  be  operative  in  it.  The  effi- 
ciency of  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life  is  built  on 
the  faith  which  accepts  God  as  the  deliverer, 
from  sin's  bondage.  The  law  is  a  holy  thing, 
and  nobody  has  anything  to  do  with  It  but 
those  who  are  made  holy  in  Christ.     There- 


1 8  THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

fore,  unconverted  sinners,  seek  Christ,  if  you 
want  to  keep  the  law  ;  you  can  only  reach 
the  law  through  him. 

There  is  one  other  expression  In  this 
preface  which  should  be  noted.  It  is  the 
use  of  the  second  person  singular,  "which 
have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt." 
There  are  two  thoughts  connected  with 
this  use.  The  first  Is  that  God  deals  with 
alt  Israel  as  one  man.  He  expects  them 
to  be  one,  of  one  mind  and  one  heart,  be- 
fore him.  There  must  be  no  antagonisms 
among  God's  people.  Bickerings,  whether 
ecclesiastical  or  private,  have  no  place  In 
the  Church  of  our  Redeemer.  They  are 
Satans  in  the  camp,  adversaries  to  be  ex- 
cluded and  destroyed.  There  are  twelve 
encampments  with  twelve  standards,  but 
there  is  only  one  tabernacle  and  only  one 
Moses,  and  the  twelve  tribes  unite  as  one 
family  and  march  In  harmonious  ranks. 
If  Christians  differ  In  taste  and  outward 
name,   It  is   well ;    but  if  they  mark   their 


THE   PREAMBLE.  1 9 

difference  by  bitterness  and  hostility  to  any 
degree,  they  are  destroying  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  only  maintained  by  the  bond 
of  peace.  Superciliousness,  censoriousness, 
coldness  between  Christians  of  whatever 
name  or  names,  are  as  inimical  to  Christian 
unity  as  are  open  contention  and  calumny. 
The  latter  may  be  more  conspicuous  and 
make  more  immediate  trouble,  but  the 
former  are  just  as  devilish  in  their  origin 
and  texture,  and  their  results  are  perhaps 
even  more  fatal  by  reason  of  their  more 
secret  working.  There  is  one  bond  which 
should  bind  all  believers  together — the  love 
of  the  common  Master ;  and  in  this  love  all 
differences  should  sink  to  nothing,  or,  at 
most,  become  mere  harmless  theories.  He 
has  taken  us  out  of  the  contentious  world, 
not  that  we  should  be  only  another  conten- 
tious world,  but  that  we  should  show  on  dis- 
tracted earth  the  harmony  of  heaven.  He 
wishes  to  reconcile  all  things  unto  himself. 
He  is  our  peace,  who  hath  made  Jew  and 


20  THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

Gentile,  men  the  most  opposite  in  view  and 
feeling,  one.  Sin  divides  men,  grace  unites 
them. 

The  other  thought  regarding  the  use  of 
the  second  person  singular  here  is  this  :  God 
treats  man  individually.  Man  enters  heaven 
or  hell,  not  in  companies  or  battalions,  but 
in  naked  individuality.  Sin  is  personal, 
condemnation  is  personal,  salvation  is  per- 
sonal. Social  sin  and  social  morality  are 
delusions,  or,  at  least,  figurative  phrases. 
Society  has  no  conscience,  heart  or  purpose  ; 
it  only  has  a  history.  It  is  the  individual 
alone  who  has  the  moral  attributes,  and  who 
makes  society  and  social  history.  In  this 
way  I  see  that  God's  law  comes  directly  to 
me — not  to  me  as  a  member  of  society,  but 
to  me  as  an  individual  man,  with  a  heart  and 
conscience,  which  heart  and  conscience  the 
law  would  fit,  if  there  were  no  society  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  You,  my  Christian  reader, 
are  as  personally  addressed  by  God  in  this 
holv  law  as  if  the  entire  Church  of  Christ 


THE   PREAMBLE.  21 

consisted  of  you  alone.  "  That  brought  thee 
out  of  the  land  of  Egypt."  It  was  thyself 
personally  that  wert  delivered  from  that 
dark  Egypt  of  condemnation,  was  it  not? 
It  was  thyself  personally  that  received  the 
benefit  of  Christ's  paschal  death,  was  it  not  ? 
And  so  you  can  say,  "  Who  loved  me  and 
gave  himself  for  me!' 

And  now,  shall  the  holy  gospel  concen- 
trate its  beauty  all  on  your  own  single  self, 
and  the  holy  law  be  denied  an  equal  concen- 
tration with  its  equal  beauty  ?  No,  no  ! 
Jesus,  when  he  redeemed  you,  meant  to 
sanctify  you.  The  gospel  was  his  means, 
but  the  law  was  his  end.  It  is  his  own  gos- 
pel and  his  own  law ;  and  just  as  his  love 
is  personal  to  you,  so  are  both  gospel  and 
law  (the  one  the  expression  of  his  love,  the 
other  the  summons  to  your  love)  personal 
to  you.  When  we  can  say,  **  I  am  my  Be- 
loved's, and  my  Beloved  is  mine,"  I'm  sure 
we  can  say,  too,  '*  Oh  how  love  I  thy  law !" 

My  unrenewed  reader,  If  this  law  is  not 


22  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

for  you,  because  you  are  not  adapted  to  it, 
it  is.  a  witness  against  you  through  that  non- 
adaptation.  God  has  offered  to  put  you  in 
relation  with  that  law  through  the  gospel, 
and  your  non-acceptance  of  the  divine  grace 
is  a  witness  of  the  deep  power  of  sin  in  your 
heart.  God's  voice  of  offer,  and  God's  voice 
of  condemnation,  are  as  personal  to  you  as 
his  giving  of  the  law  is  personal  to  every 
follower  of  Christ.  They  are  as  personal 
to  you  as  if  God  and  you  stood  alone  in  the 
universe.  God  recognizes  only  the  indi- 
vidual. "Thou  art  the  man,"  is  his  judg- 
ment. Your  sin  is  personal — you  know  it ; 
your  condemnation  is  personal,  fearfully 
personal.  May  you  know  that,  so  as  to 
make  your  salvation  personal  in  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ! 


The  First  Commandment. 


^'TJioti  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  meP — ExODUS  xx.  3. 

WE  have  noted  that  the  Decalogue 
was  universal  in  its  application,  and 
simple,  practical,  and  spiritual  in  its  charac- 
ter. We  have  also  noted  that  its  preface 
teaches — (i)  that  it  can  only  be  appreciated 
and  honored  by  God's  own  people,  and  (2) 
that  God  deals  with  each  man  separately,  and 
with  his  own  people  as  made  one  in  Christ. 
We  now  enter  upon  the  consideration  of  the 
first  of  the  ten  commandments  : 

*'  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before 
mey 

"Before  me"  is  "in  my  presence ;"  and 
as  Jehovah  is  everywhere  present,  it  means 
"  anywhere."     Wherever  a  god  is  set  up  in 

23 


24  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

the  entire  universe,  it  is  set  up  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Jehovah.  The  idea  of  God  in  the 
human  mind  involves  the  notion  of  a  su- 
preme being  who  is  governor  of  all,  and  to 
whom  is  due  the  homage  of  all.  Even  poly- 
theism has  to  place  over  its  many  subordi- 
nate gods  one  thus  supreme.  It  is  an  intui- 
tive demand  of  the  mind.  Now,  the  mere 
making  and  using  of  a  wooden  or  stone  idol 
to  represent  a  god  is,  we  see  at  a  glance,  by 
no  means  requisite  in  order  that  the  soul 
shall  subjectively  have  such  a  god.  The 
outward  statue  is  perfectly  harmless  in  itself, 
and  is  only  dangerous  as  connected  with  the 
ideal  god  represented  by  it  and  supposed  to 
be  mysteriously  united  to  it.  This  command- 
ment really  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  sub- 
ject of  gross  heathen  idolatr}^  the  use  and 
worship  of  visible  idols.  The  second  com- 
mandment looks  in  that  direction,  but  this 
takes  higher  ground  and  calls  the  soul  to 
the  contemplation  of  first  principles.  It 
might  be  read  in  the  singular,  "  Thou  shalt 


THE   FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  2$ 

have  no  other  god  before  me,"  and  I  believe 
that  is  the  more  correct  way  of  reading  the 
word  "  Elohim"  in  this  passage.  It  declares 
that  Jehovah  will  have  no  rival  for  supreme 
homage — that  the  heart  of  man  shall  recog- 
nize none  but  himself  as  God  and  guide. 
The  reasons  are  embodied  in  the  phrase 
"  before  me."  Any  such  rivalry  would  be 
an  insult  to  Jehovah's  majesty.  It  would  be 
like  introducing  a  usurper  into  the  king's 
throne-room  and  there  offering  him  alle- 
giance. It  would  be  a  tacit  declaration  that 
Jehovah  was  not  competent  to  govern  his 
creation  alone,  but  must  give  over  some  of 
his  provinces  to  others  who  would  man- 
age their  affairs,  and  thus  relieve  him.  Of 
course  this  embraces  in  its  condemnation 
both  the  polytheism  of  paganism  and  the 
semi-polytheism  of  Romanism,  but  its  main 
and  primary  charge  has  relation  to  the  gen- 
eral abandonment  of  Jehovah  by  the  human 
heart. 

Two  thoughts  here  suggest  themselves : 


26  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

I.  All  want  of  a  positive  allegiance  to  Je- 
hovah  is  a  positive  allegiance  to  another  Elo- 
him  or  supreme  God. 

A  self-reliant  man,  in  the  strict  sense  of 
the  word,  never  yet  existed.  Man's  nature 
is  such  that  he  looks  without  him  for  sup- 
port, as  the  ivy  feels  for  the  tree  or  the  wall. 
We  use  the  phrase  "  a  self-reliant  man"  of 
one  who  stands  independent  of  his  fellow- 
man,  but  he  is  not  independent  of  some 
outer  prop.  He  has  a  god.  If  he  had  not, 
he  would  be  himself  a  god.  If  he  has 
not  the  true  and  living  God  as  his  stay,  then 
he  is  an  idolater.  Because  he  has  no  out- 
ward idol,  no  painted  or  sculptured  work  of 
art  before  which  he  bows,  his  idolatry  is 
probably  the  more  inveterate,  because  the 
more  hidden  and  deceptive,  unperceived  by 
himself.  He  follows  his  master,  he  concen- 
trates his  energies  in  his  service,  and  is  yet 
ready  to  deny  the  obvious  relation  which 
these  facts  imply.  It  is  this  gross  deception 
which  is  hiding  the  precipice  from  many  a 


THE  FIRST  COMMANDMENT  2/ 

careless  soul.  Some  of  my  readers,  it  may 
be,  are  wrapt  in  this  mist,  supposing  that 
Jehovah  is  their  God,  but  forgetting  that 
"  covetousness  is  idolatry." 

God's  will  concerning  you,  his  purpose 
in  regard  to  his  own  eternal  kingdom,  his 
word,  his  Church,  his  love, — these  were  never 
known  to  you  as  objects  of  desire  or  motives 
of  action.  You  have  lived  a  score  or  scores 
of  years  upon  this  earth,  and  yet  never 
inquired,  "  What  are  the  commands  of  God 
who  put  me  here  ?"  Have  you  been  idle  ? 
Have  you  been  asleep  ?  By  no  means. 
You  have  been  active  and  wide  awake  every 
day.  In  your  business  or  profession  you 
have  worked  with  a  will.  You  have  there- 
fore had  motives,  for  man  cannot  work  with- 
out motives,  and  you  have  had  a  supreme 
motive,  for  one  motive  must  in  practice  con- 
trol all  others,  for  all  action  is  the  result  of 
the  dominant  motive  that  has  either  crushed 
the  others  or  brought  them  alone  in  its 
train.     Now,  has  a  regard  for  God   been 


28  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE, 

your  dominant  motive,  or  even  any  one  of 
your  motives,  as  you  formed  your  plans  or 
proceeded  to  their  execution  ? 

You  have  no  hesitation  In  answering  my 
question.  God  has  not  been  in  all  your 
thoughts — that  is,  as  a  power.  You  have 
had  an  intellectual  apprehension  of  the  true 
God — you  have  even,  at  times,  been  agitated 
in  your  emotional  nature  with  the  idea  of 
the  Almighty;  but  this  intelligence  and 
transient  sensation  have  not  had  to  do  with 
the  working-force  of  your  being.  Yet  you 
have  had  a  supreme  motive.  What,  then, 
has  it  been  ?  Was  it  the  desire  for  wealth  ? 
or  for  rank  or  position  ?  or  for  social  appre- 
ciation ?  or  for  intellectual  greatness  ?  or  for 
worldly  ease  and  pleasure  ?  Whichever  It 
was,  here  is  your  god,  your  Elohlm,  the 
governor  and  guide  of  your  life,  to  which 
the  real  homage  of  your'  heart  is  given. 
You  lean  upon  It  as  your  ultimate  good. 
Your  life  is  arranged  with  a  single  view  to 
its    attainment.     You    measure    everything 


THE   FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  29 

by  this  standard.  You  have  been  so  accus- 
tomed to  this  for  years  that  you  are  perhaps 
yourself  unconscious  of  the  processes  of 
your  devotion.  You  do  not  stop  to  analyze 
the  motives  of  an  activity  that  has  almost 
become  an  instinct.  But  now  I  ask  you 
honestly  to  consider  whether  this  be  not 
your  god,  by  no  figure  of  speech,  but  in 
plainest  reality.  What  worship  could  you 
render  more  devout  than  that  of  your  affec- 
tions ?  Surely  the  mere  outward  kneeling 
and  oral  praying  do  not  form  the  soul  of 
worship.  They  are  the  mere  dress  of  a 
true  homage.  We  know  well  that  in  the 
high  spiritual  sense  in  which  all  these  things 
are  to  be  regarded  by  immortal  spirits,  and 
in  which  they  are  regarded  by  the  infinite 
God,  the  heart  in  its  attachments  forms  the 
real  life,  the  actual  worship,  of  the  man. 
That  heart  of  yours  has  no  attachment  to 
the  true  and  living  God,  and  yet  it  has  its 
attachment,  its  controlling  attachment ;  it 
could  not  live  a  moment  without  one. 


30  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Now,  special  pleading  aside,  is  it  not  clear 
that  you  are  deliberately  breaking  the  first 
and  root  commandment  of  God's  written 
law,  **Thou  shalt  have  no  other  god  before 
me"?  Have  you  not  another  god,  just  as 
truly  in  the  estimation  of  all  spiritual  intel- 
ligences as  if  you  kneeled  daily  to  a  statue 
of  Jupiter  or  Baal  in  your  parlor  ?  All  those 
applications  for  wisdom  and  help,  all  those 
ascriptions  of  gladness  and  gratitude,  all 
those  movements  of  regard  and  considera- 
tion which  belong  to  your  almighty  Creator 
and  Benefactor,  are  bestowed  elsewhere, 
and  whither  they  go,  there  is  your  god. 
Your  whole  being  gravitates  directly  away 
from  the  true  God  by  this  positive  action 
of  your  will  and  affections. 

As  test  questions  of  this  condition  of  your 
being,  let  me  offer  you  these.  Use  them 
candidly,  and  see  where  their  consideration 
brings  you : 

I.  Have  I  ever  loved  God's  word  and 
made  it  my  counselor  ? 


THE  FIRST  COMMANDMENT,  3 1 

2.  Have  I  found  prayer  to  God  a  relief 
and  source  of  strength? 

3.  Have  I  identified  myself  with  God's 
people  ? 

4.  Have  I  dwelt  hopefully  upon  the  bless- 
ings provided  in  God's  heavenly  and  eternal 
kingdom  ? 

5.  Has  my  heart  been  grieved  that  I  did 
not  love  and  serve  my  God  better  ? 

These  questions  probe  your  heart.  You 
cannot  say  "  Yes  "  to  any  one  of  them.  The 
conclusion  your  intellect  can  appreciate, 
though  not  your  heart — that  God  is  not  your 
God,  and  hence  that  you  are  an  idolater. 

In  the  quiet  hours  of  the  Sabbath,  given 
to  you  for  just  such  opportunities,  deal 
faithfully  with  yourself  and  ponder  on  all 
these  things.  Look  at  the  past  and  at  the 
future.  Think  of  what  you  have  been,  and 
what  you  ought  to  be.  Consider  alike  the 
reproach  and  the  peril  of  a  position  aloof 
from  God  while  in  the  midst  of  God's  uni- 
verse, with   every  pulsation  of  your  being 


32  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

his  gift,  and  surrounded  by  the  appeals  of 
his  infinite  love.  In  your  retirement  meet 
the  question  fairly ;  throw  aside  all  meta- 
physical subtleties  about  destiny  and  nature, 
and  say  out  boldly  what  you  know :  "  I  have 
rejected  God — I  have  chosen  other  gods — 
I  have  acted  as  independently  and  deliber- 
ately as  if  I  were  the  sole  being  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  I  wish  to  follow  other  gods  than 
Jehovah.  I  love  these  other  gods ;  they 
please  and  excite  me,  and  in  this  excite- 
ment I  lose  sight  of  all  those  unpleasant 
questions  about  eternity  and  righteousness 
and  justice  which  are  so  hateful  to  my  soul." 

Ah,  when  you  say  all  that  truth  plainly 
to  yourself,  will  you  not  shudder  at  the  posi- 
tion it  reveals  ?  In  this  path  of  honest 
dealing  with  yourself  is  your  only  safety. 

II.  All  allegiance  to  God  that  does  not  rec- 
ognize him  as  he  has  revealed  himself  is 
allegiance  to  a  false  god. 

God  has  shown  himself  to  us,  we  may 
say,  in  the  face  of  outward  nature  and  in 


THE  FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  33 

the  inward  nature  of  our  minds.  But  both 
these  natural  sources  have  been  corrupted. 
Sin  has  so  disarranged  our  faculties  as  to 
make  our  contemplation  both  of  the  mate- 
rial and  the  spiritual  creation  very  defective 
and  deformed.  All  sorts  of  conflicting  the- 
ories have  grown  up  to  deceive  the  mind 
and  ruin  the  heart  from  these  injured  germs. 
As  pure  and  sinless,  we  should  have  seen 
truth  reflected  both  from  our  own  souls 
and  from  every  hill  and  valley  of  our  earth. 
Each  thought  would  have  been  a  revela- 
tion, and  each  star  a  shining  wisdom.  But 
wrecked  as  we  are  by  sin,  these  means  are 
no  longer  effective.  We  have  gone  off  and 
learned  to  speak  a  barbarous  tongue,  and 
the  language  of  God's  creation  we  cannot 
understand.  A  new  revelation — a  revelation 
to  sinners — must  be  made,  as  God's  love 
yearns  to  call  us  back  to  salvation  and  holi- 
ness, and  this  revelation  is  made  in  the 
written  word.  Here  the  goodness  of  the 
sin-pardoning    God    is    disclosed;     nature 


34  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

could  never  have  taught  that.  Here  the 
sympathy  and  atonement  of  God  as  man 
are  discovered ;  nature  could  never  have 
taught  that.  In  short,  here,  and  here  only, 
is  the  way  back  to  God  and  purity  and  bliss 
revealed  for  us  wandering  and  lost  sinners. 
Now,  the  only  true  idea  of  God  can  be 
found  in  this  heavenly  record.  The  gospel 
view  of  God  is  of  one  who  is  infinitely 
holy  and  just,  and  who  cannot  regard  sin 
("  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil  and 
canst  not  look  on  iniquity"),  and  yet  who 
can  be  just  while  he  justifies  the  sinner  who 
believes  in  Jesus. 

The  gospel  view  of  God  represents  him 
as  in  covenant  with  all  such  believers  (and" 
with  none  else),  giving  them  his  full  pardon, 
and  implanting  in  them  a  true  holiness.  To 
them  he  is  Jehovah,  the  covenant-making 
and  covenant-keeping  God,  and  Jesus  is  the 
mediator  of  this  covenant.  Jesus  is  our 
peace  and  righteousness.  Through  his 
sacrifice    in    our   behalf,  justice    no    longer 


THE   FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  35 

threatens  us,  and  holiness  visits  our  souls ; 
and  this  wonderful  change,  from  condemned 
sinners  to  honored  saints,  results  altogether 
from  our  union  with  Jesus  by  faith  and  love. 
Eternal  joy  at  God's  right  hand  awaits  those 
who  are  thus  united,  forgiven  and  sanctified. 
This  is  God  as  he  has  revealed  himself. 
This  is  Jehovah,  the  God  of  his  own  dear 
people.  Now,  any  idea  of  God  as  the  uni- 
versal Father  (an  Idea  founded  on  natural 
theology  and  human  wishes),  who  regards 
all  his  creatures  alike  and  will  treat  them  all 
alike,  and  will  see  to  it  that  they  all  alike 
reach  eternal  glory, — any  such  idea  Is  for- 
eign and  opposed  to  this  revelation,  and  any 
such  god  Is  a  false  god. 

So  a  view  of  God  as  careless  of  personal 
holiness  In  his  creatures  or  as  too  exalted  to 
notice  all  their  minute  acts  and  thoughts,  or 
as  tyrannical  and  arbitrary  In  his  dealings 
with  them,  or  as  appeasable  by  self-denials 
and  penances,  is  a  view  of  a  false  god,  and 
not  a  view  of  Jehovah,  the  only  living  and 


36.  THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

true  God.  And  the  man  who,  despising  or 
neglecting  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  trusting 
to  his  reason  or  his  dreams  or  to  nature 
or  to  nothing,  holds  such  a  god  before  his 
mind,  is  an  idolater;  he  has  put  another 
Elohim  before  Jehovah  Elohim.  Because 
the  thought  of  the  divine  Being  which  he 
thus  introduces  into  his  heart  becomes  the 
substitute  for  the  trice  motion  that  should 
guide  his  life,  he  puts  the  helm  into  as 
false  hands  as  if  he  had  delivered  it  to 
Mammon.  In  truth,  it  will  be  found  that 
this  false  god  is  only  an  image  made  up  in 
the  interests  of  Mammon  and  his  train,  and 
representing  their  demands  upon  the  affec- 
tions. The  true  God  is  shorn  of  all  his 
glorious  attributes  in  order  that  sin  may  be 
practiced,  and  thus  is  not  the  true  God  at 
all,  and  the  soul  flatters  itself  it  is  worship- 
ing the  true  God,  when  it  has  enshrined 
worldliness. 

In  view  of  the  tw^o  thoughts  we  have  thus 
noted — (i)  that  God  must  have  a  positive 


THE   FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  3/ 

allegiance,  and  (2)  that  it  must  be  yielded  to 
God  as  he  has  revealed  himself,  several  sub- 
ordinate thoughts  naturally  follow. 

I.   The   help  of  the  true    God,    Jehovah' 

Jesus,  should  be  sought  by  its  to  overthrow 

our  false  gods.     By  that  very  act  we  should 

offer  our  rightful  allegiance,  and,  in  so  doing, 

consecrate  our  life  to  the   rightful  service 

of  Him  who  is  our  rightful  king.     We  can 

never  make  head  against  our  carnal  gods 

by  ourselves.     They  are  too  much  like  us, 

and  we  are  too  much  like   them,   for  any 

honest,  persistent  and  successful  opposition 

on  our  part.    Just  here  Jehovah's  help  comes 

in.     Introduce  his  ark,  and  Dagon  will  fall 

down  and  be  shattered.    The  Almighty,  who 

says,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before 

me,"  says  also  to  his  Israel,  who  asks  to  be 

delivered  from  strange  gods,  "Against  all 

the  gods  of  Egypt  I  will  execute  judgment." 

It  is  to  him  you  must  cry  as  your  conscl'ence 

tells  you  and  warns  you  of  your  folly  in 

worshiping  worldly  gods. 


38  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

"  I  am  weak,  but  thou  art  mighty ; 
Guide  me  by  thy  powerful  hand." 

He  will  wrest  our  gods  from  us,  and  will 
pluck  us  from  our  gods,  even  if  it  cause 
pain ;  and  if  we  are  honest  in  asking  his 
help,  we  shall  be  willing  to  endure  the  pain 
for  the  truth,  the  peace,  the  honor  and  the 
glory  of  serving  the  living  and  true  God. 
Then  to  him  I  urge  you,  who  have  thus  far 
followed  other  guides  than  Jehovah — to 
/lim  I  urge  you  to  apply  before  opportu- 
nity is  lost,  and  you  and  your  gods  find  a 
common  destruction. 

2.  I/ow  watchful  we  should  be  in  this  earth, 
where  the  false  gods  are  not  only  plenty,  btU 
exactly  after  the  fashion  of  our  own  dep7^aved 
hearts  I  It  was  said  of  Athens  that  at  each 
corner  there  was  a  new  god,  and  some  have 
even  said  that  in  population  Athens  had 
more  gods  than  men.  It  is  so  with  our  un- 
seen gods  of  the  unregenerate  heart.  They 
abound  with  different  names  and  different 
characters,  according  to  the  tastes  and  cha- 


THE  FIRST  COMMANDMENT.  39 

racters  of  different  men.  In  this  way  there 
are  actually  more  of  these  gods  than  of 
men.  But  there  is  only  one  Jehovah,  and 
his  character  is  unalterable.  He  cannot 
accommodate  his  perfections  to  the  varied 
and  depraved  tastes  of  men.  His  purity  is 
wholly  contrary  to  their  condition  and  aims. 
The  heart  is  not,  therefore,  going  to  gravi- 
tate naturally  into  piety.  It  is  not  going  to 
quit  its  dear  earthly  gods  and  fall  before 
Jehovah  In  reverence  and  affection  as  a 
matter  of  course.  It  must  arise  to  arms  ;  it 
must  assume  its  attitude  of  warfare  ;  it  must 
act  as  sentinel  as  well  as  combatant.  It 
must  suspect  everything  earthly  as  a  seduc- 
tion to  sin,  and  only  be  satisfied  when  it  has 
probed  it  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God. 

3.  The  word  of  God  ought  to  be  in  our 
hands  all  the  while.  This  is  the  only  offen- 
sive weapon  against  our  false  gods.  With 
it  we  can  cut  them  to  pieces,  hip  and  thigh. 
The   Scripture   enlightens  and    purifies   us. 


40  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

To  be  sanctified  thouorh  his  word  of  truth 
is  what  Christ  desires  for  his  dear  people. 
How  we  are  rebuked  by  this  thought !  The 
Bible's  collected  dust  testifies  against  us. 
The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  covered  with 
rust.  We  must  love  the  word  more,  and 
to  do  this  we  must  know  it  more  and  use 
it  more.  So  only  shall  we  be  guiltless  in 
regard  to  the  first  commandment  of  the  law. 


'^^& 


The  Second  Commandment. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  itnage,  or  any 
likeness  of  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the 
earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth :  thou 
shalt  not  bow  do7vn  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them  :  for  I  the 
Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation 
of  them  that  hate  7ne ;  and  showing  77iercy  zinto  thousands  of 
them  that  love  me,  and  keep  7ny' commandments.^'' — ExODUS  xx. 
4-6. 

THE  first  commandment,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  the  prohibition  of  any  su- 
preme object  of  affection  and  reverence  in 
the  heart  but  Jehovah,  or  any  dependence 
for  the  guidance  of  Hfe  other  than  on  him. 
The  second  commandment  has  regard  to 
one  specific  form  of  withdrawing  the  heart's 
allegiance  from  Jehovah — a  form  which  has 
been  most  successful  in  its  sad  results,  and 
which  has  seduced  the  vast  majority  of  our 

41 


42  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

race  from  the  service  of  the  true  God.  The 
first  commandment  forbids  an  mward,  the 
second  forbids  an  outward,  idolatry. 

We  are  not  well  situated  to  understand 
the  fascinations  of  image-worship.  Our 
peculiar  type  of  civilization,  largely  moulded 
by  a  pure  and  spiritual  Christianity,  has  in 
it  a  prejudice  against  the  grossness  of  a 
god  of  stone  or  metal  which  renders  the 
history  of  idolatry  almost  unintelligible. 
We  are  slow  to  imagine  that  a  sensible 
man — a  man  of  ordinary  human  wisdom — 
could  bow  down  and  pray  to  a  sculptured 
deity ;  and  yet  we  are  met  by  the  stubborn 
fact  that  the  wisest  of  men  (as  far  as  hu7nan 
wisdom  went)  paid  this  adoring  homage  to 
the  gods  of  Greece  and  Rome.  It  is  not 
the  tattooed  savage  and  the  degraded  can- 
nibal who  monopolize  this  worship,  but  the 
poets,  the  philosophers,  the  statesmen,  of 
the  chosen  land  of  art  and  science  herein 
showed  their  kinsmanship  to  the  Maories 
and  the  Feejees. 


THE   SECOND   COMMANDMENT.  43 

With  all  the  careful  training  of  the  Jewish 
people,  and  although  they  were  especially 
warned  against  this  form  of  error,  sin  and 
ruin,  they  were  charmed  into  its  embrace, 
and  filled  the  holy  land  with  Baalim  and 
Ashteroth,  the  male  and  female  gods  of 
the  neighboring  kingdoms.  Solomon,  their 
wisest  king  and  wisest  man,  set  the  ex- 
ample, and  the  whole  nation  eagerly  fol- 
lowed it.  Against  this  most  fatal  style  of 
sin  the  prophets  inveighed  with  faithful 
vehemence;  and  for  this  supreme  iniquity 
of  the  land,  the  nation  was  dragged  behind 
the  triumphal  cars  of  Assyria  and  Babylon. 

Let  us  hear  Jeremiah  as  an  example  of 
the  warning  voices  of  the  prophets  : 

"  Hear  ye  the  word  of  the  Lord,  O  kings 
of  Judah  and  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem.  Thus 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel, 
*  Behold !  I  will  bring  evil  upon  this  place, 
the  which  whosoever  heareth,  his  ears  shall 
tingle.  Because  they  have  forsaken  me,  and 
have  estranged  this  place,  and  have  burned 


44  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

incense  in  it  unto  other  gods,  whom  neither 
they  nor  their  fathers  have  known,  nor  the 
kings  of  Judah,  and  have  filled  this  place 
with  the  blood  of  innocents ;  they  have  built 
also  the  high  places  of  Baal,  to  burn  their 
sons  with  fire  for  burnt-offerings  unto  Baal 
(which  I  commanded  not,  nor  spake  it, 
neither  came  it  into  my  mind)  :  Therefore, 
behold!  the  days  come,'  saith  the  Lord, 
'  that  this  place  shall  no  more  be  called 
Tophet,  nor  the  Valley  of' the  sons  of  Hin- 
nom,  but  the  Valley  of  Slaughter ;  and  I 
will  make  void  the  counsel  of  Judah  and 
Jerusalem  in  this  place,  .  .  .  and  I  will  make 
this  city  desolate,  and  a  hissing.'  '*    Jer.  xix. 

3-8. 

Such  was  the  prevalence  of  open  idola- 
try, and  such  its  punishment,  in  the  most 
spiritually  -  enlightened  people  upon  the 
earth. 

It  is  very  true  that  the  clearer  light  of 
Christianity  has  reduced  the  power  of  this 
gross    form    of  falsehood,  and   yet   human 


THE   SECOND   COMMANDMENT.  45 

nature  has  unmistakably  asserted  its  de- 
pravity in  this  direction  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  nominal  Church  of  Christ.  Before 
the  fourth  century  after  Christ  was  com- 
pleted, images  of  our  Saviour  were  intro- 
duced into  the  churches,  and  these  paved 
the  way  for  introducing  images  of  the  saints, 
so  that,  by  the  eighth  century,  the  Christian 
churches  were  as  full  of  statues  as  ever  were 
the  heathen  temples  ;  and  before  these  mar- 
ble saints  the  illiterate  bowed  in  prayer  and 
vow,  and  knew  no  other  god  but  thesfe.  The 
object  at  first  was,  doubtless,  to  help  the 
imagination  to  worship  the  true  God  through 
a  visible  symbol ;  and  as  Christ  was  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  it  seemed  perfectly 
proper  to  make  a  visible  representation  of 
Christ  as  a  quickener  of  devotion.  The 
very  visibility  and  tangibility  of  the  repre- 
sentation was  a  satisfaction  to  the  worship- 
er ;  and  this,  together  with  the  greater 
external  ceremony  that  could  be  thrown 
around  an  image-worship,  formed  the  bait 


46  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

to  the  gross  idolatry  of  the  mediaeval  Church 
and  the  Roman  Church  of  to-day. 

The  all-wise  and  omniscient  God  knew 
man's  frailty,  and  in  this  second  command- 
ment forbade  the  use  in  worship  of  any 
visible  representation,  even  though  it  be 
of  the  divine  Being  himself  in  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ:  **Thou  shalt  not  make 
unto  thee  any  likeness  of  anything  that  is 
in  heaven  above  T  and  the  full  expression  of 
the  context  shows  that  the  spiritual  as  well 
as  the  physical  heaven  is  meant,  the  whole 
universe  of  God  being  included. 

I  need  hardly  stop  to  say  that  the  use  of 
two  distinct  sentences  for  one,  where  the 
latter  qualifies  the  former,  is  a  common 
Hebraism.  We  are  not  forbidden  to  make 
imaees,  but  to  make  them  in  order  to  bow 
down  to  them,  or  to  bow  down  to  them 
when  made. 

The  only  point  at  which  this  command- 
ment touches  us  Protestant  Christians  is  in 
our  general  tendency  to  rest  in  form  rather 


THE   SECOND   COMMANDMENT.  4/ 

than  in  spirit,  and  to  place  religion  in  the 
emotions  rather  than  in  the  affections.  This 
is  a  human  frailty ;  and  so  long  as  we  are 
human,  we  shall  be  open  to  the  temptation. 
It  has  been  suggested  by  prominent  Protest- 
ants in  this  country  that  likenesses  of  dis- 
tinguished Christian  heroes  should  be  placed 
in  our  churches,  and  we  find  everywhere  in 
Europe  that  the  Protestant  churches  are 
adorned  with  crucifixes,  images  of  our 
Saviour  on  the  cross,  whose  direct  tend- 
ency is  to  beget  an  image-worship.  Even 
the  cross  itself,  if  we  use  it  in  worship  to 
bow  down  to  it,  is  forbidden  by  this  com- 
mandment ;  but  the  cross  may  be,  and  often 
is,  used  as  a  mere  symbol  of  religious  faith, 
where  the  crucifix  would  inevitably  become 
an  object  of  adoration. 

The  reason  God  gives  for  his  command 
against  idolatry  needs  our  attention.  It  is 
that  he  is  a  jealous  God  (El-kanna — Qkoq, 
ZfjlcozTj^:) .  This  expression  is  frequently  used 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  one  place  the 


48  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Lord  declared  to  Moses  that  his  7iame  is 
jealous.  The  force  of  the  phrase  is  perhaps 
best  seen  hi  the  words  of  Moses  to  Israel 
when  he  gave  them  his  parting  advice,  "  for 
the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  consuming  fire,  even 
a  jealous  God"  (Deut.  iv.  24),  a  passage 
which  is  quoted  and  used  by  the  apostle 
Paul  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  where 
he  is  speaking  of  the  future  and  eternal 
judgments  of  the  Almighty.  We  must  free 
the  idea  from  the  attachments  which  we  give 
it  from  our  view  of  Imman  jealousy.  There 
is  no  selfishness,  no  envy,  no  hatred,  in  God's 
jealousy.  It  is  the  abundant  outflow  of  his 
holiness,  which,  by  its  own  virtue,  must 
either  assimilate  or  destroy  everything  in 
the  universe.  It  envelops  in  its  grace,  or 
it  drives  forth  from  its  purity  and  from  all 
the  blessings  which  accompany  its  purity. 
When  we  say  that  God  is  a  jealous  God, 
we  say  that  he  is  no  passive  Brahm,  like  the 
god  of  the  Hindoos,  but  that  he  glows  with 
zeal  for  all  that  is  pure  and  good  and  holy 


THE   SECOND    COMMANDMENT.  49 

and  true,  and  Is  ever  engaged  actively  in 
separating  the  holy  and  true  from  the  un- 
holy and  false,  striving  to  do  it  first  by 
mercy,  but  if  man  makes  that  fail,  then  by 
the  cutting  off  of  his  judgments.  This 
character  of  God  is  especially  alluded  to 
in  this  second  commandment,  because  this 
form  of  sin  appeared  the  most  seductive 
and  the  most  obstinate.  It  were  well,  there- 
fore, that  God's  character  toward  sin  should 
here  be  especially  exhibited. 

The  remainder  of  the  commandment  is 
really  an  enlargement  on  this  character  ot 
holy  jealousy,  and  the  words  startle  us  as 
we  read  them :  "  Visiting  the  iniquity  of 
the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me, 
and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them 
that  love  me  and  keep  my  commandments." 
"  Is  not  this  rank  injustice,  that  children 
should  be  punished  for  their  fathers'  faults?" 
it  Is  objected.  "  Am  I  to  be  sent  to  hell 
because  my  great-grandfather  sinned?"      It 


50  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

is  very  true  that  the  human  reason  instinct- 
ively revolts  at  such  a  thought,  and  our 
unbiased  instincts  of  the  reason  are  gen- 
erally correct.  Our  affections  are  depraved, 
warped  and  sinful,  but  our  notion  of  right 
and  wrong  remains  in  its  general  force, 
even  though  we  may  be  too  ignorant  to 
know  all  its  detailed  applications.  It  is  at 
this  very  bar  of  our  own  judgment  that 
we  shall  be  condemned  if  we  continue  en- 
emies to  God.  It  is  this  comparatively 
healthful  portion  of  our  being,  this  which 
by  its  very  nature  cannot  be  essentially 
wicked  or  depraved,  which  exclaims  against 
the  punishment  of  children  for  parents'  sins. 
And  hence  this  portion  of  the  second  com- 
mandment is  a  stumbling-block  to  many. 
Besides  the  injustice  of  the  thing,  we  see 
the  fearful  discouragement  that  it  must 
generate  in  the  soul  against  all  attempts  at 
return  and  reform.  If  I  was  condemned 
by  my  father's  sin  before  I  was  born,  why 
should    I    make    any   endeavor    after   any- 


THE   SECOND    COMMANDMENT.  $1 

thing  good  ?  It  will  be  all  a  waste  of  time, 
a  fostering,  a  delusion,  an  enlargement  of 
disappointment.  Now,  all  this  exercise  of 
mind  in  regard  to  God's  description  of  him- 
self would  be  avoided  if  we  read  the  Bible 
more  carefully  and  compared  Scripture  with 
Scripture.  God  expressly  addresses  those 
who  thus  entirely  misconstrue  his  dealings 
and  his  character,  and  speaks  thus  by  his 
prophet  Ezekiel : 

"What  mean  ye,  that  ye  use  this  proverb 
concerning  the  land  of  Israel,  saying,  'The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the  chil- 
dren's teeth  are  set  on  edge  ?'  .  .  .  Behold, 
all  souls  are  mine ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father, 
so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is  mine  ;  the  sottl 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.  .  .  .  Yet  say  ye, 
Why?  doeth  not  the  son  bear  the  iniquity 
of  the  father?"  [misquoting  this  very  com- 
mandment]. *'When  the  son  hath  done  that 
which  is  lawful  and  right,  and  hath  kept  all 
my  statutes  and  hath  done  them,  he  shall 
surely  live.     The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 


52  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

die :  the  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  father;  .  .  .  the  righteousness  of  the 
righteous  shall  be  upon  him,  and  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  wicked  shall  be  upon  him." 

What  could  more  fully  show  the  exact 
justice  of  God  and  avert  all  objection  to 
the  misunderstood  phrase  in  the  second 
commandment?  The  key  to  the  difficulty 
is  in  the  words,  "  of  them  that  hate  me,''  and 
the  enunciation  is  just  this — that  where  a 
man  is  opposed  to  God,  rejecting  his  truth 
and  salvation,  he  endorses  and  supports, 
and  thus  becomes  responsible  for,  the  guilt 
of  his  ancestors.  .  The  stream  of  guilt  runs 
down  from  father  to  son  with  accumulating 
force  till  it  ends  in  its  appropriate  judgment. 
This  judgment,  so  far  as  it  is  spiritual  and 
eternal,  falls  on  each  sinner  in  the  line,  but 
so  far  as  it  is  earthly  and  temporal,  it  falls 
on  him  who  brings  the  sinfulness  to  the  top 
of  the  climax — who  adds  the  last  drop  to 
the  fullness  of  the  cup.     This  is  only  true 


THE   SECOND    COMMANDMENT.  53 

where  the  son  or  descendant  Is  a  hater  of 
God. 

Hence  we  see  the  meaning  of  such  pas- 
sages of  revelation  as  these :  in  Job,  where 
the  patriarch  speaks  of  the  wicked,  he  says, 
"  God  layeth  up  his  iniquity  for  his  children." 
Isaiah  says  of  Babylon :  "  Prepare  slaugh- 
ter for  his  children  for  the  iniquity  of  their 
fathers,"  and  again  to  the  Jews :  "  I  will 
recompense.  .  .  your  iniquities  and  the  in- 
iquities of  your  fathers  together."  So  our 
Saviour,  in  pronouncing  the  fearful  doom 
of  the  generation  of  ungodly  and  rebellious 
Jews  among  whom  he  lived,  adds :  *'  That 
upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous  blood 
shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood  of  right- 
eous Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias  son 
of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the 
temple  and  the  altar.  Verily  I  say  unto 
you.  All  these  things  shall  come  upon  this 
generation." 

This  is  the  natural  flow  and  consequence 
of  sin,  but  grace  can  furnish  a  check,  and 


54  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

roll  back  the  tide,  both  in  relation  to  the 
physical  and  spiritual  results  of  iniquity. 
Hence,  even  of  wicked  Ahab,  the  willing 
instrument  of  his  wife  Jezebel's  idolatries 
and  cruelties,  it  is  recorded,  "  And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  Ahab  heard  these  words 
[of  the  prophet  Elijah],  that  he  rent  his 
clothes  and  put  sackcloth  upon  his  flesh  and 
fasted  and  lay  in  sackcloth  and  went  softly. 
And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  Elijah, 
the  Tishbite,  saying,  '  Seest  thou  how  Ahab 
humbleth  himself  before  me  ?  Because  he 
humbleth  himself  before  me,  I  will  not  bring 
the  evil  in  his  days,  but  in  his  son's  days 
will  I  bring  the  evil  upon  his  house.'  "  So, 
also,  the  cry  of  the  Psalmist  is  founded  on 
this  power  of  grace  to  check  and  cancel  the 
issues  of  hereditary  sin  :  "Oh  remember  not 
against  us  former  iniquities,"  or,  as  the  mar- 
gin reads  it,  "  Remember  not  against  us  the 
iniquities  of  them  that  were  before  us  " — 
i,  e.,  our  forefathers. 

The  subject  is  thus  freed  from  all  ideas 


THE   SECOND   COMMANDMENT.  55 

of' injustice,  for  each  one  suffers  for  his  own 
sin,  made  his  own  by  appropriating  it  as 
an  inheritance,  and  building  on  it,  as  on  a 
foundation,  his  new  sinfulness.  Yet  there 
is  a  mystery  in  this  matter  of  the  relation 
of  paternity  and  sonship,  in  which  we  are 
simply  to  take  God's  word  for  it,  recognize 
a  corroborating  analogy,  and  leave  the  rest 
for  solution  in  a  world  of  greater  light  and 
larger  views.  God's  word  shows  clearly 
that  there  is  a  spiritual  connection  by  blood 
descent.  Every  man  begins  where  his  father 
leaves  off  If  his  father  be  evil,  he  starts 
with  that  amount  of  evil  capital  to  use  if  he 
will,  and  if  he  be  evil  himself  (as  ever}^  man 
by  nature  is),  then  he  actually  uses  that  capi- 
tal in  his  own  practice  of  evil.  If  his  father 
be  good,  then  he  starts  with  that  amount 
of  good  capital  to  use  if  he  will,  though, 
on  this  side  of  the  picture,  every  man's  in- 
nate depravity  modifies  the  correspondence. 
Hence  men  accumulate  evil  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  but  they  do  not  accumu- 


56  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

late  good.  All  they  can  do  is  to  check  the 
evil,  and  hand  down  the  example  and  pre- 
cept for  checking  it  to  their  posterity.  It  is 
for  this  reason,  in  this  second  command- 
ment, we  find  that  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
is  visited  upon  the  children,  but  Uie  good  of 
the  fathers  is  not  so  visited. 

The  analogy  to  this  fact  of  revelation  we 
have  in  the  matter  of  disease.  Consumption, 
scrofula,  and  a  thousand  diseases,  descend 
from  parent  to  child.  As  these  are  purely 
physical,  they  do  not  involve  necessarily  the 
idea  of  punishment.  They  may  be  used  by 
God  as  the  richest  blessings  to  the  soul  to 
all  eternity,  and  we  know  that  they  are  con- 
stantly so  used.  No  man  can  call  it  an 
injustice,  therefore,  that  he  should  have  a 
diseased  body  because  his  father  was  a 
drunkard,  because  his  diseased  body  is  a 
blessing,  if  he  only  have  a  mind  to  make  it 
so.  God  comes  personally  to  every  man 
(in  his  love  for  every  creature  he  has  made), 
and  offers  to  make  everything  in  him  and 


THE   SECOND    COMMANDMENT.  57 

around  him  to  work  together  for  his  good. 
If  man  rejects  this  offer,  and  so  lets  his 
inherited  disease  be  only  a  curse  to  him,  let 
him  not  blame  God  for  punishing  the  son 
for  the  father's  sin.  The  son  has  chosen  the 
punishment,  of  his  free  will.  Even  when, 
through  grace,  the  infliction  of  the  heredi- 
tary disease  is  made  a  blessing,  there  will  be 
much  temporary  discomfort  and  pain ;  and 
so  in  the  soul  where  sin  is  pardoned  and  the 
Spirit  given,  there  will  be  habits  and  tend- 
encies, much  of  the  foul  growth  of  heredi- 
tary sin,  to  cause  temporary  discomfort  and 
pain.  In  neither  case  is  it  punishment,  but 
affliction,  which  a  parent  can  bring  upon  a 
child,  even  as  you  may  bring  affliction  upon 
your  neighbor  by  breaking  his  arm,  he  not 
at  all  consenting ;  and  there  is  no  more 
divine  injustice  in  the  one  than  in  the  other. 
Two  thoughts  naturally  suggest  themselves 
from  this  subject  brought  before  us  in  the 
second  commandment : 

I  St.    What  a  vast  i^espmisibility  rests  upon 


58  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE, 

parents!  The  parent  has  it  in  his  power 
to  inflict  life-long  evil  upon  his  child,  and  to 
increase  the  child's  everlasting  condemna- 
tion, unless  the  grace  of  God  interfere.  As 
a  father  by  his  debauched  life,  or  even  by  a 
life  simply  careless  of  the  laws  of  health, 
may  entail  disease  upon  his  children — and 
he  is  just  as  responsible  for  injuring  his 
children  as  if  he  had  put  the  cup  of  poison 
to  their  lips — so  a  father  may,  by  his  dis- 
regard of  the  laws  of  God,  entail  spiritual 
disease  and  misery  upon  his  children,  and 
he  is  just  as  responsible  for  his  children's 
ruin  as  was  Satan  responsible  for  Adam's 
fall. 

Listen,  then,  ye  that  bend  your  souls 
to  Mammon,  thinking,  dreaming,  planning 
and  wishing  only  about  money,  and  ye 
that  yield  your  talents  and  time  to  Fashion, 
feeding  your  poor  starved  souls  on  the  frip- 
pery and  flippancy  of  her  fool's  paradise — 
ye  are  not  slaying  yourselves,  but  your 
children,   and    preparing    their   hell    of  re- 


THE   SECOND    COMMANDMENT.  59 

morse  !  For  your  children's  sake,  if  not  for 
your  own,  stop,  and  seize  the  saving  hand 
of  Christ! 

2d.  See  the  fullness  of  God' s  grace  :  "And 
showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that 
love  me  and  keep  my  commandments." 
Where  the  look  of  love  and  faith  is  put 
forth  to  Jesus,  the  whole  condemnation, 
growing  from  ancestral  sins,  is  stayed.  And 
God  is  ever  watching  for  the  first  accept- 
ance of  his  proffered  grace,  that  its  victory 
may  be  made  perfect.  He  will  not,  he  can- 
not, compromise  and  compound  with  sin. 
It  must  go  on  in  its  lava  torrent  of  corrup- 
tion from  generation  to  generation,  sweep- 
ing everything  before  It  into  eternal  despair, 
except  the  one  divine  rescue,  not  by  com- 
promise, but  by  substitution  and  atonement, 
be  accepted.  Wherever  the  soul  takes  Christ 
as  its  portion,  God's  holy  jealousy  burns  no 
more  aofainst  the  sinner — the  deliverance  is 
immediate  and  complete.  The  love  of  Jesus 
is  the  pledge  of  the  deliverance.     Do  I  love 


6o  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

to  keep  God's  commandments  ?  Then  I 
love  God ;  and  if  I  love  God,  this  Is  a  clear 
sign  that  his  Spirit  is  given  me,  and  I  am 
rescued  from  the  long  hereditary  flood  of 
guilt.  Out  of  Chr^ist,  I  was  appropriating 
generations  of  Iniquity  and  earning  their 
doom,  hi  Christ,  I  am  appropriating  his 
eternal  life  and  glorious  reward.  The  ques- 
tion to  each  of  us  is  between  accumulated 
and  accumulati7ig  guilt,  and  Gods  free,  full 
g7^ace  ill  Christ, 


The  Third  Commandment. 

"  Thoii  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain  : 
for  the  Lord  xvill  not  hold  him  guiltless  that  taketh  his  name  in 
vain." — Exodus  xx.  7. 

THIS  commandment  holds  Its  appropri- 
ate place  In  a  regular  gradation  from 
the  first.  The  first  forbids  the  disregard  of 
God  In  the  heart,  the  second,  such  disregard 
in  the  outward  act  of  worship,  and  this  third 
(in  its  primary  application),  such  disregard 
in  the  words  of  the  mouth.  God  is  to  reign 
supreme  In  the  heart,  to  be  exclusive  in  his 
worship  and  to  be  mentioned  always  with 
reverence  by  the  lips.  The  same  holy  jeal- 
ousy which  burns  against  the  false  wor- 
shiper for  the  same  reason  burns  against 
the  reckless  speaker,  where  the  subject  of 
speech  is  the  almighty  and  infinite  Jehovah. 

61 


62  THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

Where  there  is  a  want  of  reverence  there 
is  a  want  of  allegiance.  So  far  forth  as  a 
subject  is  disrespectful,  he  is  rebellious ;  and 
all  true  government,  especially  the  pure  and 
holy  government  of  God,  must  take  cog- 
nizance of  the  rebellion  in  accordance  with 
holiness  and  truth. 

The  illustration  of  this  principle  in  the 
family  is  very  apt.  The  boy  who  has 
learned  to  speak  of  his  father  with  dis- 
respect has  learned  to  be  disobedient,  and 
so  shows  himself  a  violator  of  the  root-law 
of  family  order  and  prosperity.  Much  of 
the  filial  ingratitude,  undutiful  neglect  and 
rebellious  independence  of  sons,  over  which 
so  many  fathers  spend  their  vain  sighs, 
would  have  been  averted,  if  parents  had 
recognized  the  two  facts  that  implicit  obe- 
dience is  the  absolute  requisite  of  all  true 
government,  the  keystone  of  moral  order 
and  strength,  and  that  disobedience  begins 
with  the  impudent  and  reckless  word.  The 
Christian  parent  should   reverently  imitate 


THE    THIRD   COMMANDMENT.  63 

his  heavenly  Father,  and  not  allow  a  single 
utterance  of  angry  defiance  or  mocking  jeer 
or  careless  disrespect  from  his  child,  but 
hold  him  guilty  of  a  grievous  sin. 

With  regard  to  this  third  commandment, 
the  common  view  of  its  exclusive  reference 
to  vulgar  profanity  is  entirely  too  contracted. 
That  this  low  and  vulgar  sin  is  included  in 
the  prohibition  is  very  evident ;  but  were  this 
its  only  meaning,  the  command  w^ould  have 
no  application  to  any  one  of  respectable 
social  standing.  Simple  refinement  would 
raise  a  person  above  the  infringement  of 
this  commandment.  An  examination  of 
two  expressions  in  the  passage  will  open  to 
us,  I  think,  a  wider  horizon,  and  bring  the 
commandment,  in  its  personal  and  practical 
application,  nearer  home. 

The  first  expression  to  which  I  refer  is, 
"  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God,"  or  strictly, 
"  the  name  of  Jehovah  thy  God."  The 
name  of  the  Lord  is  not,  on  one  hand,  the 
mere  articulate  sound  by  which  the  mouth 


64  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

expresses  the  idea  of  Deity,  nor  is  the 
phrase,  on  the  other  hand,  a  simple  syn- 
onym for  God.  Scripture  does  not  by  this 
formula  denote  "  the  title  of  God,"  separat- 
inor  between  God  and  his  title,  nor  does  it 
use  a  circumlocution  and  denote  God  him- 
self, making  "  the  Lord  "  and  "  the  name  of 
the  Lord  "  equivalents,  but  it  holds  up  God 
in  his  special  character  of  Jehovah,  the 
covenant-making  and  covenant- keepijig  God 
of  his  own  dear  people,  "  The  name  of 
Jehovah "  means  God.  known  and  served 
under  his  revealed  aspect  of  mercy,  God 
appreciated  as  the  pardoner  of  sin  and 
giver  of  the  spirit,  the  Jehovah  or  keeper 
of  his  precious  promises  to  his  people.  For 
example,  of  the  antediluvian  piety  it  is  said, 
"Then  began  men  to  call  upon  the  name  of 
the  Lord  " — /.  <?.,  it  was  then  that  distinctive 
recognition  was  made  of  God's  special  pro- 
vision of  mercy  for  sinners.  His  name  of 
Jehovah  was  received  as  indicating  his  rela- 
tion to  his  believing  people.     A  name  is  an 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT  65 

expression  of  the  personal  substance,  an 
exhibition  of  the  essential  character.  God's 
name  by  which  he  dehghts  to  be  known 
among  men,  is  Love.  He  also  says  that  his 
name  is  JealouSy  but  it  is  his  name  "  Jeho- 
vah "  which  attaches  him  to  his  people,  and 
which  asserts  his  love  and  grace.  His  cha- 
racter of  compassion  is  especially  displayed 
in  his  word,  and  hence  the  Psalmist  says, 
"Thou  hast  magnified  thy  word  above  all 
thy  name" — that  is,  of  all  revelations  of 
God's  character,  all  expressions  of  his  being, 
the  written  word  is  most  full  and  complete. 
Here  is  the  way  of  pardon  and  acceptance 
clearly  portrayed. 

Another  conspicuous  display  of  God's 
character,  but  only  local  and  temporary  in 
its  personal  contact,  while  universal  in  its 
possible  application,  is  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  so  Jesus  is  in  a  high  sense  "  the 
name  of  Jehovah,"  and  he  calls  himself  this. 
You  remember  how,  just  before  his  last 
sufferings    and    death,    he    cried    unto    the 


66  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

Father,  "Father,  glorify  thy  name,"  when 
he  had  said,  just  before,  that  it  was  himself, 
the  Son  of  man,  who  should  be  glorified. 
Jesus  was  the  name  of  God,  or,  as  Paul  de- 
clares, "  the  brightness  of  God's  glory  and 
the  express  image  of  his  substance ;"  and 
we  have  no  hesitation  in  seeing  this  bright 
glory  of  Jesus  in  the  burning  bush,  the  fiery 
cloudy  pillar  and  all  the  theophanies  of 
Old-Testament  days.  The  frequent  refer- 
ence to  the  tabernacle  or  temple  as  the 
place  which  Jehovah  had  chosen  to  put  his 
name  there,  asserts  that  the  express  image 
of  Jehovah  occupied  that  earthly  habitation 
among  his  people.  The  name  of  Jehovah 
that  was  there  placed  was  the  word  of  God, 
who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God  and  who 
was  God.  The  great  Antitype  was  there 
present  among  his  types.  By  the  ''name 
of  Jehovah,"  then,  we  are  to  understand 
his  manifestations  to  man,  especially  in  his 
Scripture  and  in  his  Son,  each  of  which  is 
called,  for  a  similar  reason,  "  the  Word!' 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT.  6/ 

The  second  expression  to  which  our 
attention  should  be  directed  is  the  phrase, 
"  to  take  in  vain."  The  hteral  rendering  is, 
"  thou  shalt  not  Hft  up  the  name  of  Jehovah 
thy  God  Hghtly."  Taking  God's  name  in 
vain  is  not  simply  the  using  the  divine 
name  to  support  a  falsehood,  as  some  say 
v^ho  would  make  this  commandment  a  pro- 
hibition of  perjury,  but  it  is  also  the  use  of 
that  name  in  any  cause  or  on  any  occasion 
where  a  due  solemnity  does  not  accompany 
the  use.  It  is  the  flippant  and  thoughtless 
use  of  God's  name.  It  is  the  taking  up  the 
name  in  the  vacant,  purposeless  way  in 
which  we  pluck  off  a  leaf  as  we  pass  along 
the  road — the  use  of  the  name,  not  only 
where  the  purpose  is  evil,  but  where  there 
is  no  defined  purpose  at  all.  There  need 
be  no  intention  to  mock  or  deride  the  holy 
name — and  the  thought  of  such  mockery 
or  derision  may  be  quite  abhorrent  to  the 
soul — yet  there  is  a  meddling  with  holy 
things  by  profane  hands,  and  the  careless 


68  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

perpetrator  is  therein  a  positive  and  active 
enemy  to  holiness  and  God.  Again,  there 
may  be  not  only  an  absence  of  evil  purpose, 
but,  beyond  an  absence  of  all  purpose,  there 
may  even  be  a  purpose  of  good,  but  this 
purpose  may  be  seized  upon  in  so  rash  and 
ill-advised  a  way  that  the  use  of  the  divine 
name  in  it  is  a  taking  the  name  in  vain,  just 
as  Uzzah's  touching  the  ark  of  God,  even 
to  stay  it  upon  the  cart  and  prevent  its  fall, 
was  a  sin  of  profanity,  and  called  for  the 
divine  punishment. 

From  these  thoughts  upon  the  two  prin- 
cipal phrases  in  the  third  commandment, 
we  are  prepared  to  see  its  true  scope,  as 
bearing  upon  all  use  other  than  a  devout 
and  reverential  use  of  all  that  expresses 
God's  character  and  being,  whether  it  be 
his  verbal  name,  his  written  word,  his  only- 
begotten  Son  who  has  declared  him,  or  any 
of  the  great  truths  which  are  brought  to 
the  heart  and  conscience  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Let  us  look  a  moment  at  each  of  these  divi- 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT.  69 

slons  of  thought,  and  apply  a  faithful  exami- 
nation to  our  own  souls. 

1.  In  respect  to  God's  vej^bal  7iame,  we 
are  not  to  be  satisfied  with  our  freedom 
from  the  coarse  profanity  which  culture  and 
good-breeding-  forbid,  but  we  are  to  remove 
the  habit  of  using  the  holy  name  in  ordi- 
nary conversation  in  which  the  use  has  no 
religious  character.  We  are  not  to  call  a 
wretched  and  forlorn  person  or  thing  "God- 
forsaken," or  to  hail  a  gift  as  a  "  God-send," 
when,  in  using  these  epithets,  we  have  no 
design  to  use  their  full  meaninof,  and  there- 
fore  have  not  the  proper  attitude  of  mind 
for  their  utterance.  The  use  is  both  an  in- 
sult to  God  and  a  debauchery  to  the  soul. 

2.  In  respect  to  God's  written  zuord,  we 
are  to  take  it  up  with  reverence  both  in 
our  hearts  and  on  our  tongues.  Any  other 
action  toward  the  holy  Bible  is  taking  God's 
name  in  vain.  A  just  view  of  this  forbids 
our  travesties  of  Scripture,  or  the  burlesque 
use  of  language  indissolubly  associated  with 


70  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Scripture  in  our  minds,  all  witticisms,  by 
pun  or  conundrum,  In  relation  to  the  sa- 
cred words  of  revelation.  In  short,  anything 
which  to  our  sinful  natures  would  tend  to 
debase  or  vulgarize  the  heavenly  truths  of 
the  Bible  through  the  laws  of  association. 
It  also  forbids  all  mere  use  of  Scripture  for 
its  story  and  history,  for  its  geography  and 
science,  for  its  language  and  literature.  The 
use  of  its  letter  without  its  spirit  is  a  dis- 
honor to  God.  The  only  way  in  which  this 
exhibition  of  God  Is  to  be  rightly  used  is 
in  finding  God  therein.  For  that  purpose 
he  gave  it,  and  a  rejection  of  that  use  Is  an 
assertion  of  self  before  God.  The  Bible  is 
given  to  show  sinners  the  way  of  salvation 
and  holiness,  and,  as  before  said,  any  other 
ultimate  use  of  the  divine  Book  Is  the  tak- 
ing God's  name  in  vain. 

But  3,  and  chiefly,  in  relation  to  yesus 
and  the  great,  eternal  truths  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  Introduces  to  the  soul.  To  each  man 
comes   through  his  conscience  a  summons 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT.  7 1 

from  God  to  give  heed  to  his  future  spirit- 
ual and  eternal  condition.  A  sense  of  sin, 
and  of  unrest  by  reason  of  sin,  oppresses 
every  child  of  Adam,  and  God  is  known, 
even  to  the  untutored  soul,  as  a  God  of 
justice.  His  name  of  "  Jealous "  is  daily 
seen  and  understood  by  the  most  ignorant 
and  worldly,  and  it  is  to  all  such  that  he 
comes  to  reveal  himself  as  "Love."  He 
comes,  in  Jesus  and  his  blood,  to  seek  and 
save  the  lost.  Christ,  with  his  saving  truth, 
is  that  name  of  Jehovah  which  was  pro- 
claimed to  Moses  in  the  cleft  of  Sinai's 
rock,  and  which  is  now  proclaimed,  through 
Church  and  Christian  and  Bible,  to  every 
soul. 

''Jehovah,  Jehovah  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  long-suffering  a7id  abtmdant  i7i 
goodness  and  truth,  keeping  me^'cy  for  thou- 
sa7tds,  foi^giving  iniquity  and  trans gi^essioii 
and  sin,  and  that  will  by  no  means  clear  the 
guilty ;  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the  fathers 
tcpon  the  children,  and  upo7i  the  children  s 


72  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

cJiildren,  2tnto  the  third  and  to  the  fourth 
generation  r 

This  is  the  manifestation  of  Jesus,  the 
Saviour,  who  saves,  but  not  at  the  expense 
of  justice,  who  saves  without  a  compromise 
with  iniquity,  who  lets  sin  wreak  its  fierce 
wrath,  either  on  himself  (and  there  is  the 
sinner's  salvation)  or  on  the  sinner  (and 
there  is  the  sinner's  damnation),  with  the 
sinner's  choice  to  decide  which  it  shall  be. 
This  knowledg-e  of  God's  active  o-race  in 
Jesus  is  the  possession  of  you  who  read 
these  pages.  *'  This  is  the  true  Light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world."  This  wonderful  Jesus  with  his 
glorious  truth  is  the  name  of  God  entrusted 
to  your  keeping.  You  have  taken  it  up 
into  your  cognition  and  thought.  How 
have  you  taken  it  up?  'With  admiration 
and  gratitude  and  devotion  ?  Have  you 
used  it  as  a  treasure  from  heaven,  cherish- 
ing it  in  your  bosom,  and  ready  to  part 
with    all    else    rather   than    part   with    it? 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT  73 

Have  you  loved  to  learn  more  and  more 
of  God  through  his  disclosed  name,  seeing 
the  Father  in  Jesus,  and  studying  intently 
and  delightedly  the  divine  glory  that  shines 
forth  from  the  Son  ?  Have  you  felt  that 
life's  sunshine  was  in  the  smile  of  Christ, 
from  whose  gospel  sprang  all  true  halcyon 
days  ?  Have  these  been  your  experiences 
before  the  glad  tidings  ?  Or  have  you  met 
them  with  an  averted  front?  Have  you 
taken  up  this  great  name  of  Jehovah  in 
vain  ?  Have  you  treated  the  message  from 
heaven  like  a  song  to  be  forgotten  ?  Have 
you  let  it  rest  upon  your  ears  and  forbid- 
den it  your  heart,  putting  it  in  company 
with  theories  and  fantasies,  as  of  like 
weight  and  worthy  of  equal  regard  ? 

I  do  not  ask  you,  Have  you  derided  the 
gospel  and  its  Author? — that  you  would  be 
far  from  doing — but.  Have  you  neglected  the 
gospel — played  with  it,  as  a  man  may  play 
with  a  glove  while  he  is  talking  to  a  friend 
— used  its  priceless  truths  without  attention 


74  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

and  so  without  respect?  If  this  is  your 
record,  be  assured  that  God  does  not  hold 
you  guiltless.  Such  a  precious  treasure  In 
your  hand  must  be  either  a  great  blessing 
or  a  great  curse  to  you.  As  a  man  is 
gifted  from  God,  the  possible  extremes  of 
his  destiny  widen.  A  brighter  heaven  and 
a  darker  hell  unfold  with  every  new  boon. 
This  gospel  in  your  possession  is  a  mighty 
responsibility;  and  If  you  sHght  it,  you  are 
takine  God's  name  in  vain,  and  chooslno^ 
the  penalty  rather  than  the  reward.  God 
gave  you  the  gospel  for  a  purpose — the 
purpose  of  glorifying  him  and  glorifying 
your  own  soul ;  you  take  it  for  another 
purpose  or  for  no  purpose.  Can  you  have 
any  doubt  as  to  what  the  end  of  this  oppo- 
sition will  be? 

There  Is  a  parallel  thought  for  the 
Christian  who  neglects  the  crlorlous  name 
of  Jehovah,  the  Christian  who  allows  the 
gay  and  foolish  world  to  wheedle  him  Into 
its  arms,  who  sinks  down  into  a  semi-legal- 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT.  75 

Ism,  where  duty  Is  all  hard  work  and  the 
liberty  of  God's  children  appears  very  much 
like  bondage.  This  Christian  is  really  tri- 
fling with  the  gospel — he  Is  taking  God's 
name  In  vain.  He  has  seen  the  grace  of 
God  In  Christ  and  acknowledged  It  by  faith, 
and  now  that  eternal  gospel,  on  whose  per- 
petual flow  depends  his  life,  Is  slighted  for 
the  tinseled  and  bedizened  rivals  of  an 
hour.  The  due  and  proper  reverence  of 
God's  name  implies  a  very  honest  and  a 
very  hearty  searching  of  the  Scriptures,  It 
implies  a  sincere  and  ready  use  of  prayer, 
and  it  implies  a  devotion  of  time,  time, 
TIME,  to  the  contemplation  and  worship 
of  the  Redeemer;  and  unless  a  Christian 
exhibits  this  style  of  piety,  he  Is  breaking 
the  third  commandment  as  truly  as  yon 
rough  blasphemer  In  the  street,  at  whose 
profanity  he  shrinks  back  in  horror  and 
disgust.  The  sin  of  each,  when  analyzed, 
is  a  disregard  of  the  sanctity  of  God's 
manifestations  and    of  their    requirements, 


'jd  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

a  worldly  and  profane  posture  of  the  soul 
toward  the  reachlngs  forth  of  God's  grace  ; 
and  they  only  differ  in  this,  that  the  one 
shows  his  neglect  less  openly  to  others,  by 
negative  rather  than  positive  signs,  while 
the  other  hangs  out  his  flag,  and  with  his 
words  exposes  the  carelessness  of  his  heart. 
It  is  a  most  solemn  thought  to  us  that 
the  infinite  God,  the  blessed  and  only  Po- 
tentate, the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords,  who  only  hath  immortality,  dwelling 
in  the  light  which  no  man  can  approach 
unto,  whom  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see, 
to  whom  belong  honor  and  power  everlast- 
ing, brings  his  name  to  us  as  a  treasure 
and  confides  it  to  our  care,  saying,  "  Occupy 
till  I  come."  The  history  of  our  eternity 
will  begin  with  our  use  or  abuse  of  this 
keepsake.  Its  injury  or  neglect  will  tell 
fearfully  against  us  in  that  day  when  our 
relation  to  this  name  will  be  seen  to  be  the 
criterion  of  our  salvation.  Then  will  this 
Name   (as   including  every  expression  and 


THE    THIRD    COMMANDMENT  7/ 

manifestation  of  God)  be  recognized  both 
by  exultant  and  despondent  souls  as  "the 
brightness  of  his  glory  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person,"  centering  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whose  holy  rays  must 
ever  illuminate  or  ever  consume.  In  this 
view,  how  vast  is  the  import  of  the  third 
commandment !  Not  one  of  us  can  remain 
unconcerned  before  the  voice  which  rolls 
through  the  ages  from  Sinai,  and  breaks 
to-day  upon  our  ears,  "Thou  shalt  not 
take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain, 
for  the  Lord  will  not  hold  him  oruiltless 
that  taketh  his  name  in  vain." 


The  Fourth  Commandment. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy.  Six  days  shalt 
thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work,  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath 
of  the  Lord  thy  God:  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou, 
nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maid- 
servant, nor  thy  cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates  : 
for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the  seventh  day  :  wherefore  the  Lord 
blessed  the  Sabbath  day  and  hallowed  it P — ExODUS  xx.  8-1 1. 

THIS  commandment  holds  a  remarkable 
position  in  the  Decalogue.  It  lies  be- 
tween those  which  touch  our  duty  to  God 
and  those  which  touch  our  duty  to  man. 
Before  it  are  the  three  commandments 
which  enjoin  reverence  for  Jehovah  in  his 
essence  and  expression  (an  avoidance  of  a 
wrong  expression,  and  the  proper  regard 
for  the  true),  and  after  it  are  the  six  com- 
mandments  which    enjoin    respect   for   the 

78 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  79 

riohts  and  welfare  of  our  fellow-men.  Be- 
tween  these  two  distinct  departments  of 
the  Decalogue  is  found  this  commandment 
regarding  the  Sabbath — not  a  few  paren- 
thetic words,  but  the  longest  and  most  mi- 
nute of  all  the  commandments. 

The  Sabbath  is  said  to  be  the  day  of 
Jehovah — it  is  ''the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord 
thy  God  " — and  hence  its  law  appropriately 
adjoins  those  which  expose  our  duty  to 
God ;  but  our  Saviour  also  tells  us  that  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  7Jian,  and  hence  the 
Sabbath  ordinance  appropriately  adjoins 
those  which  expose  our  duty  to  man.  It 
belongs  to  both  branches  of  the  Decalogue. 
Its  position  tells  us  that  a  breach  of  the 
Sabbath  is  a  direct  insult  to  God,  and  is 
also  a  direct  injury  to  man,  weakening  the 
power  of  a  day  which  is  eminently  a  blessing 
to  the  human  race. 

This  remarkable  position  of  the  Sabbath 
commandment  is  proof  incontrovertible  of 
its  binding  character  for  all  men  in  all  time. 


8o  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

We  have  on  a  former  occasion  seen  that 
the  Decalogue  has  this  universal  applica- 
tion— that  it  was  intended  for  no  circum- 
scribed period  or  locality ;  and  here  we  find 
in  that  Decalogue — nay,  in  its  very  heart, 
occupying  one-third  of  its  bulk  and  most 
intimately  interwoven  with  its  texture — the 
divine  order  to  sanctify  the  Sabbath-day. 
This  is  enough  to  satisfy  any  candid  mind. 
We  need  not  go  farther  and  show  that  the 
Sabbath  was  expressly  recognized  by  Israel 
before  the  Decaloo^ue  was  orlven,  at  the  time 
when  the  manna  was  first  sent,  and  when  on 
the  sixth  day  the  people  collected  sufficient 
food  for  two  days  that  they  might  not  pro- 
fane the  Sabbath,  where  the  narrative  shows 
that  it  was  a  deep-rooted  religious  observ- 
ance. We  need  not  refer  to  the  division 
of  time  into  the  unnatural  portions  of 
seven  days,  as  seen  in  the  history  of  the 
world  from  the  time  of  Noah  to  that  of 
Moses,  which  so  clearly  proves  the  exist- 
ence of  a  Sabbath  before   the  people    of 


THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  8 1 

Israel  had  a  being  even  In  the  person  of 
their  father  and  founder  Abraham.  It  Is 
sufficient  to  show  the  command  of  the  Sab- 
bath engraven  by  the  finger  of  God  most 
conspicuously  among  the  ten  Items  of  his 
great  moral  law,  and  placed  in  awful  con- 
cealment within  the  holy  ark  as  Indicative 
of  Its  peculiar  sanctity, — I  say.  It  Is  sufficient 
to  see  It  In  this  company  and  these  circum- 
stances to  be  assured  of  Its  Important 
relation  to  every  subject  of  the  divine  gov- 
ernment. 

There  are  two  expressions  In  the  com- 
mand itself  which  testify  to  this  universality 
of  application. 

I.  ''Remember  Xh^  Sabbath-day."  It  is  no 
new  Institution  which  you  are  now  to  learn 
about  for  the  first,  but  it  is  an  old  observ- 
ance, not  Israelltlsh,  but  human,  Noachic 
and  Adamic,  which  you,  God's  Israel,  are 
to  remember,  that  you  may  sustain  It  In  Its 
purity,  just  as  you  are  to  sustain  a  true  and 
spiritual  worship  as  against  idolatry.     This 


82  THOUGHTS   OX  THE  DECALOGUE. 

is  the  purport  of  the  phrase.  Israel  was 
selected  and  made  the  people  of  God  by 
his  grace,  that  in  them,  as  in  an  ark,  might 
be  deposited  and  preserved  the  truths, 
moral  and  practical,  which  God  had  given 
the  race.  The  chief  advantage  of  Israel 
was  that  to  them  were  committed  the  ora- 
cles of  God.  These  oracles  were  not  made 
for  Israel,  but  Israel,  as  such,  was  made 
for  them.  In  this  ark — this  early  church — 
were  preserved  and  concealed,  by  reason 
of  man's  depravity,  the  truths  which  would 
have  been  altogether  corrupted  and  dissi- 
pated if  left  to  man's  ordinary  care.  This 
accounts  for  the  word  "remember"  — 
"  remember  the  Sabbath-day." 

2.  The  other  expression  which  proves  the 
universality  of  its  application  (in  addition  to 

its  very  position  in  the  Decalogue)    is  the 

I 
reason  given  for  the  divine  order — "because 

in  six  days  Jehovah  made  heaven  and  earth, 

the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested 

the  seventh  day  :  wherefore  Jehovah  blessed 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  83 

the  Sabbath-day  and  hallowed  it."  The  rea- 
son began  at  the  creation,  and  therefore  the 
observance  beoran  at  the  creation.  Adam 
and  Eve  in  Paradise  kept  the  Sabbath-day ; 
for  the  reason  for  its  observance,  as  here 
given  in  the  law,  was  as  cogent  with  them 
as  it  was  with  Israel  at  Sinai,  or  as  it  is 
with  us  to-day. 

I  refer  to  this  perpetual  obligation  of  the 
Sabbath,  because  a  flippant  criticism  and 
a  naturalistic  and  rationalistic  theology 
are  endeavoring  to  persuade  the  Christian 
world  that  everything  that  was  found  In 
Israel  was  a  mark  of  bondage  from  which 
we  are  happily  free — an  error  which  has 
just  this  ground  of  truth,  that  from  the 
ceremonies  of  Israel  we  are  expressly  freed ; 
but  the  Sabbath  was  never  an  appurtenance 
of  the  Jewish  ceremonial,  any  more  than 
the  worship  of  one  God  was,  but  both  were 
requirements  of  God  upon  the  race,  and  of 
course  especially  urged  upon  the  Jews  as 
representatives  of  the  true  religion.     The 


84  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Jews,  as  a  typical  Church,  had  much  that 
was  to  be  abrogated  when  the  antitype 
should  come ;  but  as  a  Church,  they  had 
much  that  was  to  remain  wherever  and 
whenever  the  true  Church  of  God  was. 
The  position  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  Deca- 
logue shows  us  to  which  of  these  two 
classes  it  belongs. 

The  question  in  regard  to  the  seventh  and 
the  first  days  of  the  week,  as  to  which  is 
the  true  Sabbath,  is  one  entirely  apart  from 
the  question  of  Sabbath  observance.  A 
doubt  as  to  the  proper  day  cannot  alter  a 
conviction  of  the  general  duty  of  keeping 
a  Sabbath.  The  Jew  and  the  Seventh-day 
Baptist,  if  sincere,  are  equally  Sabbath 
observers  with  others  who  keep  the  first 
day  of  the  week.  We  all  agree  in  the 
duty,  although  we  differ  on  the  minor  point 
of  the  day.  Our  own  observance  of  the 
first  day  is  in  accordance  with  the  uniform 
usages  of  the  apostles  and  of  the  apostolic 
Church,    the   day    in    which   Jehovah-Jesus 


THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  85 

rested  from  his  work  of  the  new  creation 
being  substituted  for  the  day  in  which  he 
rested  from  his  work  of  the  old  creation. 
A  change  of  day  very  appropriately  marked 
a  change  of  dispensation,  while  the  observ- 
ance of  a  Sabbath  in  each  marked  the  one- 
ness of  the  two  dispensations  in  their  essen- 
tial character. 

Leaving  these  questions,  we  proceed  to 
consider  the  two  chief  thoughts  in  connec- 
tion with  the  command — first.  What  is  the 
idea  of  the  Sabbath  ?  and,  secondly.  What 
is  its  proper  observance  ? 

I.  What  is  the  idea  of  the  Sabbath  f  It 
had  its  origin  in  God's  resting  on  that  day. 
Of  course,  this  is  an  anthropomorphism. 
God  is  said  to  work  and  to  rest,  and  the 
figure  of  a  man  working  and  resting  is 
placed  before  our  minds.  The  figure 
would  not  be  given  us  unless  there  were 
in  it  the  nearest  approach  to  the  incompre- 
hensible truth  itself.  It  is  true,  though  not 
the  whole  truth,  and  we  can  rest  safely  in  it 


86  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

until  we  know  God  more  fully.  There  was 
an  actual  rest  with  God  on  the  seventh  day, 
whether  that  day  was  twenty-four  hours  or 
twenty-four  thousand  years  long.  The  com- 
mandment further  orders  man  to  labor  six 
days,  and  to  do  no  work  on  the  Sabbath. 
And  again,  the  word  "  Sabbath "  means 
"rest."  Most  certainly,  then,  the  great 
idea  of  the  Sabbath  is  the  idea  of  rest. 
This  the  apostle  clearly  indicates  in  his 
argument  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  his  Epis- 
tle to  the  Hebrews,  where  he  shows  us  that 
the  Sabbath  was  a  type  of  the  great  Sab- 
bath-rest of  heaven  in  store  for  the  saints 
of  God ;  for,  he  says,  just  as  God  rested 
from  working  on  the  seventh  day,  so  the 
saints  of  God  will  rest  from  toil  when  they 
reach  that  Sabbatism. 

On  this  passage  Moses  Stuart  remarks : 
"As  God  ceased  from  his  work  on  the 
seventh  day,  and  enjoyed  holy  delight  in  the 
contemplation  of  what  he  had  done,  so  the 
believer,  in  a  future  world,  will  cease  from 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  8/ 

all  his  toils  and  sufferings  here  and  look 
back  with  holy  delight  on  the  struggles 
through  which  he  has  passed,  and  the  la- 
bors which  he  has  performed  for  the  sake 
of  the  Christian  cause." 

This  idea  of  rest,  involved  in,  and  denoted 
by,  the  Sabbath,  was  further  shown  in  the 
institution  of  the  sabbatical  year,  which  was 
a  local  and  temporary  ordinance  among  the 
Israelites.  Its  institution  occurs  in  the  midst 
of  other  civil  and  ceremonial  laws  given 
at  Mount  Sinai,  and  runs  thus:  "When 
ye  come  into  the  land  which  I  give  you, 
then  shall  the  land  keep  a  Sabbath  unto  the 
Lord.  Six  years  thou  shalt  sow  thy  field, 
and  six  years  thou  shalt  prune  thy  vineyard 
and  gather  in  the  fruit  thereof ;  but  in  the 
seventh  year  shall  be  a  Sabbath  of  rest  unto 
the  land:  thou  shalt  neither  sow  thy  field 
nor  prune  thy  vineyard.  That  which 
groweth  of  its  own  accord  of  thy  harvest 
thou  shalt  not  reap,  neither  gather  the 
grapes   of  thy   vine   undressed,    for  it  is  a 


C«  THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

year  of  i^est  unto  the  land."  Then  it  is 
beautifully  added,  "And  the  Sabbath  of  the 
land  shall  be  meat  for  you."  It  is  as  if 
God  said,  "  Do  not  grudge  this  loss  of 
corn  and  wine,  but  remember  in  your  self- 
denial,  as  regards  the77t,  that  your  spiritual 
nourishment  is  augmented  by  the  year  of 
rest,  in  the  trial  of  your  faith  and  in  its  typ- 
ical instruction  so  vividly  brought  before 
your  souls." 

In  the  realization  of  a  sabbatical  rest  we 
see  a  marked  contrast  with  the  time  imme- 
diately preceding.  , There  have  been  six 
days  of  active  labor,  and  straightway  the 
quiet  of  the  Sabbath  supervenes.  There 
have  been  six  busy  years  of  sowing  and 
reaping,  and  then  follows  without  any  grad- 
ual preparation  the  sabbatic  year  of  agri- 
cultural repose.  The  transition  is  abrupt, 
and  so  most  marked.  Again,  we  note  that 
the  observance  of  the  rest  is  7miiatural. 
Man  would  not  stop  his  work  on  the 
seventh  day,   nor  would  an   Israelite   have 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  89 

Stayed  his  sowing  and  reaping  in  the 
seventh  year  except  by  direct  command  of 
God.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  appear  to 
the  natural  man  a  waste  of  time  and  op- 
portunity in  either  case.  Hence  the  ob- 
servance of  a  Sabbath  is  an  act  of  faith — a 
faith  which  abruptly  ceases  from  a  natural 
sequence  and  makes  an  unnatural  hiatus. 
It  is  true  that  physiologists  have  discovered 
that  the  Sabbath  is  most  beneficent  in  its 
influences  on  health  and  physical  life,  but 
this  is  a  discovery  made  by  Christian  in- 
vestigation, and  not  a  natural  motive  for 
Sabbath-keeping.  It  is  a  token  of  the 
goodness  and  wisdom  of  God,  who  mingles 
our  spiritual  and  temporal  good  in  the  same 
institution,  but  to  man  subjectively  it  would 
never  be  a  practical  argument  for  an  exact 
seventh-day  rest. 

Having  thus  seen  that  the  idea  of  the 
Sabbath  is  that  of  a  rest  seized  aiid  entered 
tipoji  by  faith,  we  are  prepared  to  take  up 
the  last  and  most  important  inquiry — 


90  THOUGHTS   OM  THE  DECALOGUE. 

II.  What  is  its  proper  obse^^vance?  My 
first  remark  is  this,  that  the  Jewish  civil 
and  cei^emonial  law  cajt  give  us  no  hint 
as  to  its  proper  observance.  A  man  found 
gathering  sticks  upon  the  Sabbath-day  was 
put  to  death  by  stoning  while  Israel  was 
still  in  the  wilderness.  This  execution  was 
in  accordance  with  the  civil  laws  of  the  Jews 
in  regard  to  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath : 
"  Ye  shall  kindle  no  fire  throughout  your 
habitations  upon  the  Sabbath-day."  This 
was  the  express  order  of  the  civil  law. 
The  man  was  gathering  sticks  for  a  fire, 
and  thus  virtually  kindling  a  fire  and  break- 
ing the  civil  law,  the  penalty  for  which  was 
death.  This  detailed  form  of  Sabbath-keep- 
ing is  no  more  binding  on  us  in  the  present 
dispensation  than  is  the  command  to  abstain 
from  the  wearing  of  linsey-woolsey.  Lev. 
xix.  19.*  All  these  specific  commands 
formed  parts  of  that  great  typical  teaching 

*  "  Neither  shall  a  garment  mingled  of  linen  and  woolen  come 
upon  thee." 


THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  9I 

which  ended  in  our  Saviour's  advent.  They 
then,  by  reason  of  the  substance  taking  the 
place  of  the  shadow,  became,  so  far  as  the 
observance  and  use  went,  aroiyzia,  "  ele- 
ments "  or  "  rudiments  of  the  world,"  '*  weak 
and  beggarly " — that  is,  very  inefficient 
expositions  of  truth  compared  with  the 
full  gospel  of  Jesus.  They  thenceforward 
became  illustratio7is,  and  lost  their  former 
province  as  first  principles  and  guides  of 
truth.  We  are,  therefore,  to  mark  the 
clear  distinction  of  the  ge^ieral  ordinance 
of  the  Sabbath,  which  was  U7tiversal,  for  all 
men  in  all  time  and  all  lands,  and  the  specif- 
ic laws  of  the  Sabbath,  which  were  partic- 
ular for  Israelites  in  the  time  of  their  polity 
and  the  land  of  Canaan  only.  It  is  with 
such  an  understanding  that  we  can  rightly 
say  that  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  not  the 
Jewish  Sabbath.  The  mistake  of  the  Pu- 
ritan Sabbath  is  in  a  lack  of  reoard  for  this 
distinction,  as  if  the  internal  police  of  the 
Jewish  people  before  Sinai  and  in  Palestine 


92  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

was  to  be  copied  by  Anglo-Saxons  in  Mas- 
sachusetts and  Connecticut.  Ao^ain  and 
again  the  apostles  declare  that  the  Christian 
Church  is  released  from  the  bondage  of 
the  burdensome  "  touch  not,  taste  not,  han- 
dle not "  ordinances,  and  that  Christians  are 
brought  directly  in  contact  with  the  great 
spiritual  truths  which  these  ordinances  ad- 
umbrated. But  they  add  that  we  must  not 
use  our  liberty  from  these  detailed  outward 
observances  as  an  occasion  for  the  flesh — 
that  is,  as  an  opportunity  for  our  worldliness 
to  have  vent  and  spread  itself. 

This  leads  me  to  my  second  remark,  that 
the  Eiiropea7i  Sabbath  is  a  false  Sabbath, 
In  leaping  forth  from  the  strict  externals 
of  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  Christians  (so- 
called)  in  continental  Europe  have  made 
the  Sabbath  a  mere  holiday,  a  day  of  gay- 
ety  and  light  amusement ;  in  which,  it  is  true, 
they  abstain  from  their  wonted  labor  in  craft 
and  trade,  but  utterly  forgetting  that  the 
Sabbath  rest  is  a  sacred  rest — that  not  only 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  93 

are  we  to  do  no  work,  but  also  to  keep  the 
day  HOLY.  The  Puritans  ran  into  legalism, 
and  these  European  Christians  into  license. 
They  both  have  failed  to  understand  the 
true  spiritual  character  of  the  Sabbath.  In 
opposition  to  both  these  extremes,  we  re- 
mark that  the  Sabbath  is  God's  day.  He 
has  given  it  his  own  holy  name.  "  The  Sab- 
bath of  the  Lord  thy  God,"  he  calls  it  in  his 
commandment  to  the  human  race,  spoken 
from  Sinai,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  calls  it  "  the 
Lords  day''  in  the  New  Testament.  This 
fact  shows  us  that  its  rio^htful  observance 
must  have  regard  to  our  right  relation  to 
God.  The  soul  must  be  turned  Godward. 
Worship  becomes  most  appropriate,  and 
with  it  the  study  of  God's  character  and 
will  as  given  us  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  No  Sabbath-keeping  is  a  right 
observance  that  does  not  thus  recoo^nize 
the  day  as  Gods  day,  that  does  not  bring 
the  soul  into  the  positive  and  active  con- 
templation of  God  and  his  word.     It  is  in 


94  THOUGHT'S   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

this,  and  in  this  only,  that  the  day  is  made 
holy. 

Let  no  one  here  suggest  as  an  objection 
that  the  hohness  of  the  Sabbath  was  a  mere 
ceremonial  hoHness,  a  mere  external  dis- 
tinction. This  is  not  so.  When  God  ut- 
tered the  order  for  the  Sabbath  from  Sinai, 
there  was  no  ceremonial  in  Israel,  and  hence 
no  cere7nonial  holiness.  The  word  "  holy  " 
has  its  full  original  force — it  refers  to  the 
heart  of  man  and  its  humble  recognition 
and  acceptance  of  the  divine ;  and  the 
keeping  of  the  Sabbath  holy  can  mean 
nothing  else,  Godward,  but  a  fervent  re- 
ligious regard  of  its  hours  as  given  to  draw 
the  soul  nearer  to  God. 

Here,  again,  notice  that  while  the  Sabbath 
is  God's  day,  it  is  also  "  7nade  for  man  " — 
not  for  man's  frivolity  and  worldly  indulg- 
ence, any  more  than  for  man's  free  run  in 
sin,  but  for  man  as  man,  as  the  image  of 
God,  as  he  was  made  and  intended  to  be 
by  his  Creator.     ''The  Sabbath  was  made 


THE  FOURTH  COMMAND  ME  N'T.  95 

for  man,"  cries  the  licentious  heart  that 
keeps  the  Sabbath  by  breaking  it.  He 
forgets  that  he  has  lost  his  manhood  and 
become  a  fool  and  a  beast,  and  the  vSabbath 
was  not  made  for  a  fool  or  a  beast,  but  for 
nia7i.  It  was  made  to  improve  and  exalt 
man,  to  further  his  highest  interests,  to 
foster  in  him  the  work  of  God's  Spirit,  to 
unworld  him  and  i7iheavefi  him,  and  to  do 
all  this  by  giving  his  time,  precious  time,  to 
abstract  his  attention  from  the  cares  and 
occupations  of  the  ordinary  life,  and  to 
fasten  it  upon  the  infinite  interests  of  the 
spiritual  and  eternal  life.  If  the  Sabbath 
was  given  for  anything  lower  than  this,  if  it 
was  given  for  the  benefit  of  man's  body  or 
present  life,  why  is  it  found  amid  the  loftiest 
thoughts  of  God  and  the  profound  com- 
mands that  search  out  man's  heart  and 
speak  to  his  entire  immorality  ?  Away 
with  such  triflinof  before  the  grlorious  words 
of  Jehovah ! 

We  see,  then,  from  the  two  considera 


96  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

tions,  that  the  Sabbath  is  God's  day  and 
that  it  is  made  for  man,  that  it  is  to  be  by 
man  spudttially  observed  for  his  spirittcal 
good.  This  conclusion,  carefully  noted, 
does  away  with  all  riding,  sailing,  visiting, 
promenading,  gaming, — in  short,  with  all 
indulgence  in  mere  amusements,  however 
innocent  in  themselves  and  proper  on  other 
days ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does  away 
with  all  mere  ritualism  and  formality,  with 
all  mere  external  strictness,  and,  indeed, 
with  all  strictjiess  that  is  not  properly  and 
legitimately  connected  with  spiritual  growth. 
A  forced  asceticism  Is  as  repugnant  to  the 
truth  as  is  a  wild  license — they  are  two 
forms  of  the  same  self-ricrhteousness.  The 
only  external  duty  clearly  commanded  by 
God  in  the  universal  commandment  of  the 
Sabbath  is  abstinence  from  our  usual  occu- 
pations. Our  labor  and  work  are  to  be 
done  in  the  six  days,  and  abruptly  given 
up  on  the  Sabbath.  That  much  was  an 
absolute  necessity  to  a  true  Sabbath-keep- 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  9/ 

ing,  but,  beyond  that,  the  Bible,  our  only 
guide,  tells  us  nothing.  It  shows  us,  in- 
deed, that  Christians  were  accustomed  to 
assemble  upon  the  Christian  Sabbath,  which 
is  a  most  natural  prompting  of  the  renewed 
heart.  What  more  natural  to  such,  upon  a 
day  wherein  worldly  work  is  omitted  for 
spiritual  purposes,  than  to  come  together 
in  search  for  the  spiritual  gain  ?  This 
coming  together  may  take  any  form — it 
may  be  a  prayer- meeting,  a  conference- 
meeting,  a  Bible-meeting,  an  experience- 
meeting,  or  all  combined, — there  may  be 
only  one  in  the  day  or  a  dozen.  In  this 
there  is  the  largest  liberty.  We  must  rid 
ourselves  of  the  false  notion  that  two 
stately  meetings  in  a  pulpited  and  pewed 
church  are  the  true  qitalem  and  quantum 
of  Sabbath  duties,  even  so  far  as  public 
meetings  go.  Often  one  warm  prayer- 
meeting  is  worth  them  both.  Bring  Chris- 
tians together  with  Bible,  prayer  and  song, 
and  you  have  a  true  meeting  of  the  Church, 


9^  THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

complete  In  every  part.  Anything  more 
than  that  is  adventitious.  There  Is  a  gen- 
eral rule,  however,  for  God's  people,  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  gives  us,  which  we  must 
apply  to  the  Sabbath  as  to  everything  else 
— it  is  that  everything  be  done  decently 
and  In  order.  There  should  be  no  un- 
becoming looseness  and  Irregularity  In  out- 
ward observances ;  that  would  be  occasion 
of  scoffing  to  the  world,  and  an  obstacle  to 
our  own  true  progress,  as  It  would  tempt 
us  to  frequent  omissions  and  neglect,  and 
all  indifference  toward  public  worship  is  a 
mark  of  low  spirituality.  Let  a  proper 
uniformity  in  our  methods  be  observed, 
and  let  no  rash  and  rude  changes  be 
made.  Let  the  duties  which  we  owe  to  the 
Church  be  fully  and  gladly  performed.  In 
this,  as  in  everything,  let  not  our  liberty,  our 
undoubted  liberty,  to  choose  our  own  way 
of  keeping  the  Sabbath  holy  according  to 
our  conscience — I  say,  let  not  this  liberty 
prove  with  any  of  us  an  occasion  for  the  flesh. 


THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  99 

While  we  take  this  position  from  God's 
word  on  the  positive  side,  we  can  on  the 
negative  side  as  certainly  warn  every  one 
against  allowing-  the  business  of  the  week 
to  encroach  on  the  time  and  thoughts  of  the 
Sabbath. 

Christian  merchant,  do  you  make  up  your 
accounts  on  the  Sabbath?  Christian  law- 
yer, do  you  study  your  case  on  the  Sab- 
bath? Christian  woman,  do  you  carry  on 
your  housekeeping  or  social  employments 
upon  the  Sabbath?  Christian  youth,  do 
you  prepare  your  school-tasks  upon  the 
Sabbath  ?  If  so,  you  are  laboring  and 
doing  all  your  work  on  seven  days,  and 
not  six,  and  you  are  not  keeping  the 
Sabbath  holy.  The  first  necessity  of  the 
Sabbath — that  is,  your  time  and  mind  being 
free  to  study  God  and  his  word — this  first 
necessity  of  the  Sabbath  you  despise.  You 
might  as  well  take  a  shop  upon  the  public 
thoroughfare,  and  keep  it  wide  open  for 
customers   upon   the    Sabbath ;   tJiat  would 


lOO         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

not  be  a  whit  worse  treatment  of  God's 
command.  Why  have  you  not  faith  in  the 
God  of  the  Sabbath,  that  he  will  guard 
your  interests,  and  not  let  you  suffer  from 
the  observance  of  his  day,  as  he  guarded 
Israel,  and  provided  for  the  support  of  a 
whole  nation  while  the  whole  land  kept  a 
Sabbath-year?  Your  want  of  faith  makes 
you  a  Sabbath-breaker,  and  your  Sabbath- 
breaking  is  constantly  weakening  your  faith. 
The  only  occasions  in  which  God  permits 
his  command  to  receive  an  apparent  dis- 
obedience is  when  an  absolute  necessity  or 
a  pious  activity  makes  the  exception.  The 
priests  in  the  temple  profaned  the  Sabbath. 
They  were  obliged,  by  the  necessities  of 
the  law  of  God,  to  remove  and  change  the 
show-bread,  to  snuff  the  candles  and  to 
perform  the  other  service  of  the  temple 
on  the  Sabbath-day.  Our  Lord  taught  that 
it  was  right  to  heal  disease  or  relieve  any 
case  from  pressing  distress  on  the  Sabbath. 
These  exceptions  are  very  easily  discrimi- 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  lOI 

nated.  Does  the  question  of  traveling  on 
the  Sabbath  arise  ?  or  of  using  the  street- 
car, or  a  hired  carriage  ?  Let  it  be  an- 
swered by  no  categoric  universal  "  It  is 
right,"  or  "  It  is  wrong,"  but  let  it  be  an- 
swered by  each  person  on  each  occasion, 
"  Does  my  piety  prompt  this  ?  or  am  I  seek- 
ing my  own  pleasure  and  amusement  ?"  If  I 
am  in  a  street-car  upon  the  Sabbath,  on  an 
errand  of  piety,  it  is  as  well  as  if  I  were  on 
my  feet  or  in  my  bed.  I  am  rights  while 
another  at  my  side,  who  is  taking  his  ride 
for  pleasure  on  his  way  to  dine  with  a 
friend  or  on  his  way  to  the  Central  Park, 
is  as  certainly  wi^ong.  If  everybody  would 
act  in  regard  to  the  Sabbath  from  this  stand- 
point of  personal  piety,  we  should  find  no 
difficulty  in  practice.  Let  the  directors  of 
the  public  conveyances  observe  the  same 
rule,  and  decide  as  to  running  their  vehicles 
on  the  Sabbath,  by  the  consideration,  not 
what  is  gainful,  but  what  is  godly,  and  their 
decisions   will   be   blessed   of  God.     Each 


102         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

soul  must  be  its  own  judge.  My  use  of  a 
public  conveyance  upon  the  Sabbath  does 
not  justify  or  endorse  the  action  of  the 
directors  in  running  it,  nor  does  their  action 
in  running  it  justify  or  endorse  my  use  of  it. 
Each  case  is  wholly  independent  of  the 
other,  and  is  to  be  judged  by  its  motive.  I 
cannot  throw  my  sin  on  the  directors,  and 
they  cannot  throw  their  sin  on  me ;  neither 
can  my  pious  action  benefit  them,  nor  their 
pious  action  benefit  me. 

The  outer  law  of  the  Sabbath  to  the 
Christian  is  simply  to  abstain  from  the 
ordinary  daily  labor;  the  inner  law  of  the 
Sabbath  is  to  keep  it  holy.  Like  all  the 
other  commandments,  it  is  solely  and  in- 
tensely personal,  and  its  keeping  and 
breaking  can  only  be  known  to  one's  own 
soul  and  to  God,  who  seeth  the  heart.  It 
has  an  external  and  visible  part,  as  have 
the  convocation  of  saints,  and  baptism,  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  the  reading  of  the 
Word,  but  it  also   has  its  internal  and  in- 


THE   FOURTH  COMMANDMENT.  IO3 

visible  part,  which  is  its  heart  and  marrow, 
and  here  the  right  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath must  begin.  Let  us,  then,  give  the 
Sabbath  its  full  value  to  our  souls  by  the 
especial  and  assiduous  cultivation  of  our 
spiritual  knowledge  and  affections  on  the 
holy  day.  Let  us  spend  much  of  it  in 
prayer  and  private  meditation,  in  close  and 
happy  communion  with  Jesus,  and  the  rest 
of  it  (in  company  with  the  same  Jesus)  in 
conversing  with  and  teaching  others  of 
God's  love  in  Christ.  If  we  are  careful 
and  watchful  here,  I  doubt  not  we  shall 
make  no  mistake  in  the  outward  observ- 
ance of  the  day. 

The  common  fault  of  Christians  consists 
in  letting  the  world  lead,  instead  of  leading 
the  world.  In  nothing,  perhaps,  is  this  seen 
so  much  as  in  topics  of  conversation.  We 
let  our  worldly  friends  control  the  discourse, 
taking  their  subjects  from  the  business  or 
the  trifles  of  daily  life,  while  we  have  a  per- 
fect  right  to   introduce   a  religious  theme, 


104         THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE.  ' 

and  yet  keep  silent  through  fear.  Es- 
pecially on  the  Sabbath  let  our  boldness  be 
seen,  and  as  we  mingle  with  worldly  friends 
let  them  see  that  we  have  higher  matters  to 
talk  of  than  any  they  can  bring.  With  all 
courtesy  and  with  all  modesty,  yet  with  all 
frankness,  let  us  speak  earnestly  and  grate- 
fully of  Jesus,  his  gospel  and  his  salvation. 
There  is  no  need  of  a  sombre  face  or  of 
deep-drawn  sighs.  We  ought  to  have  a 
cheerful  face  and  a  merry  heart,  showing 
our  sympathy  with  everybody  and  our 
pleasure  in  their  welfare.  Let  us  always 
make  the  Sabbath  a  cheerful  day,  as 
Phariseeism  does  not,  and  let  us  always 
make  it  a  holy  day,  as  zijorldliness  does  not. 

Its  observance  is  an  injunction,  most 
precise  and  most  solemn,  of  our  God. 
Obedience  will  enrich  us  with  unspeakable 
blessings,  and  disobedience  will  entail  upon 
us  grievous  woes.  We  cannot  break  the 
Sabbath  with  impunity.  Let  us  away  with 
a   conceited   philosophy,  and   bow  humbly 


THE  FOUfiTH  COMMANDMENT.  I05 

before  the  law.  It  has  its  motive  in  God's 
infinite  wisdom  and  love,  and  its  mighty 
results  will  be  developed  in  the  glorious 
future  before  every  eye,  and  will  vindicate 
its  divine  Author.  Then  shall  we  be  able 
to  judge  of  the  length  and  breadth  of  its 
worth  and  of  the  divine  favor  in  its  gift, 
when  we  shall  stand  purified  and  glorified 
with  the  purity  and  glory  of  our  Redeemer, 
in  the  midst  of  the  heavenly  Sabbatism. 

Until  then,  let  us  all  faithfully  "  remem- 
ber the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy." 


The  Fifth  Commandment. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long 
upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy   God  giveth   thee.'''' — ExoDUS 

XX,    12. 

THE  two  tables  of  the  law  are  usually 
held  to  have  been  written  respectively 
with  regard  to  our  duties  to  God  and  our 
duties  to  man.  And  the  second  table  of 
the  law  is  generally  supposed  to  have  be- 
gun with  this  commandment.  But  if  there 
was  an  equal  amount  of  writing  on  each 
table,  the  commandment  of  the  Sabbath 
would  be  two-sevenths  on  the  first  tablet 
and  five-sevenths  on  the  second  tablet — a 
fact  which  would  harmonize  with  the  view 
we  have  taken  of  the  double  character  of 
the  fourth  commandment,  as  including  both 


THE   FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  lO/ 

our  duty  to  God  and  our  duty  to  man,  and 
as  exhibitlnor  the  Sabbath  both  as  the  Lord's 
day  and  the  day  for  man.  In  either  case, 
however,  this  commandment  to  honor  fa- 
ther and  mother  is  the  first  which  looks 
entirely  to  a  relative  human  duty.  It  is 
conspicuous  among  the  commandments  of 
the  second  table  for  another  reason.  It  is 
the  only  one  of  these  six  which  is  not  nega- 
tively expressed.  The  others  read,  ''  Thou 
shall  nol  do  this  or  that,"  but  this  is  positive  : 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother."  There 
is  yet  another  fact  which  makes  it  pecu- 
liarly prominent  among  these  six  command- 
ments. It  has  a  special  promise  of  reward 
to  its  observers,  to  w^hich  the  apostle  refers 
in  these  words  :  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy 
mother,  zvhich  is  the  fir  si  commandment  with 
promise,  that  it  may  be  well  with  thee  and 
thou  mayest  live  long  on  the  earth." 

Now,  why  is  this  command  so  conspicuous 
amonof  the  commandments  of  the  law  ? 
Why  does   it  stand  before  and  above  the 


I08         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

command  reo-ardlnor  the  fearful  crime  of 
murder,  bearing  these  three  tokens  of  its 
superiority?  I  can  only  account  for  it  by 
seeing  in  the  parental  relation  the  type  of 
God's  relation  to  us,  and  hence  in  the  duties 
of  children  a  type  of  our  duties  to  God.  I 
see  that  obedience  is  the  foundation  of  all 
effective  and  righteous  government,  involv- 
ing respect  and  homage  toward  author- 
ity, and  so  producing  and  maintaining  har- 
mony in  the  whole ;  and  I  see  that  this 
obedience  is  especially  inculcated  in  the 
family,  because  in  the  highest  typical  sense 
the  parent  is  as  God  to  the  children.  There 
is  thus  a  close  alliance  of  this  command 
with  those  of  the  first  table,  and  hence  we 
see  it  (in  Leviticus)  especially  coupled  with 
the  sabbatical  commandment:  "Ye  shall 
fear  every  man  his  mother  and  his  father, 
and  keep  my  Sabbaths :  I  am  Jehovah  your 
God."    Lev.  xix.  3. 

Let  us,  in  meditating  upon  the  command, 
regard,  first,    the    promise    annexed,    and 


THE  FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  IO9 

then,  secondly,  the  nature  of  the  duty  en- 
joined. 

I.  The  Promise. — "  That  thy  days  may  be 
long  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
giveth  thee." 

In  the  rehearsal  of  the  Decalogue  by 
Moses,  given  in  Deuteronomy  v.  i6,  we 
find  the  promise  expanded.  This  com- 
mandment, as  there  given,  has  the  ad- 
ditional words,  "  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 
commanded  thee,"  and  also,  "and  that  It 
may  go  well  with  thee."  So  that  the  two 
together  read  thus,  "  Honor  thy  father  and 
thy  mother,  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  com- 
manded thee,  that  thy  days  may  be  pro- 
longed, and  that  It  may  go  well  with  thee, 
in  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth 
thee."  The  former  of  these  two  phrases 
adds  to  the  solemnity  and  emphasis  of  the 
commandment,  the  latter  to  the  point  and 
power  of  the  promise.  It  is  as  if  God  said, 
*'  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother — this  is 
no    human   expedient,   but  a  divine   order, 


no         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE, 

founded  In  eternal  truth  ;  and  In  the  obe- 
dience of  this  command  thou  shalt  prolong 
thy  life,  not  In  wretchedness  and  evil,  but 
in  a  true  and  continual  prosperity," 

The  promise  Is  of  a  long  and  prosperous 
life.  It  Is  so  plain  that  It  can  admit  of  no 
other  Interpretation.  The  only  question 
can  be,  "Is  It  an  individual  or  a  national 
life  that  Is  here  meant  ?"  But  this  is 
answered,  first,  by  noticing  that  the  com- 
mand can  only  be  kept  by  an  individual 
person,  and  by  a  nation  only  as  a  number 
of  individuals ;  and  hence,  as  the  command 
is  only  addressed  to  the  individual,  the 
prolongation  of  the  individual  life  must  be 
intended.  The  "thy"  of  "//^ji/days"  must 
refer  to  the  same  person  as  the  "  thy "  of 
''thy  father  and  thy  mother."  It  is  an- 
swered, secondly,  that  a  long  national  career 
of  prosperity  presupposes  and  implies  a 
goodly  degree  of  personal  longevity  and 
prosperity,  and  that  the  latter  is  a  cause 
of  the  former,  while  the  former  could  in  no 


THE   FIFTH  COMAIANDMENT.  Ill 

sense  be  considered  a  cause  of  the  latter. 
From  these  considerations,  we  hold  that 
the  promise  of  long  life  is  directly  and  pri- 
marily to  the  individual  who  is  obedient  to 
this  command,  and  then  indirectly  and 
secondarily  to  the  nation  of  which  he  is  a 
part.  One  man  obeying  this  command 
will  prolong  a  prosperous  life,  but  one 
man  only  would  not  prolong  the  nation's 
prosperous  life  if  all  the  rest  of  the  people 
were  riotous  and  disorderly.  If,  however, 
the  bulk  of  the  people  should  observe  this 
command,  then  the  whole  national  life  would 
be  preserved  in  prosperity.  This  is  clearly 
the  declaration  of  the  promise — a  promise 
which,  like  the  command,  belongs,  not  to 
Israel,  but  to  the  whole  world.  The  man 
who  honors  his  father  and  mother  shall 
have  a  long  and  prosperous  career;  the 
nation  which  shows  honor  to  its  fathers  and 
mothers,  the  nation  wherein  this  filial  re- 
spect is  the  general  habit,  shall  have  a  long 
and    prosperous   career.     We  find,  histori- 


112         THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

cally,  that  the  Jews  were  accustomed  to 
cover  their  disrespect  for  parents  by  the 
trick  of  "  Corban ;"  and  this  fact  reveals 
one  of  the  secrets  of  their  downfall. 

What  the  connection  is  between  filial 
piety  and  a  long  life,  other  than  the  connec- 
tion of  God's  sovereign  pleasure,  it  is  not 
for  us  to  say.  We  are  not  of  those  who 
feel  that  a  naHiral  cause  must  be  found  for 
every  sequence  in  God's  dealings,  least  of 
all,  that  it  must  be  a  natural  cause  within 
our  limited  knowledge  of  natural  causes. 
It  becomes  us  to  be  more  childlike  before 
God's  words,  to  take  their  plain  meaning, 
and  not  to  wrest  them  in  order  to  bring 
them  within  the  reach  of  our  petty  philos- 
ophy. There  is  a  large  amount  of  practical 
infidelity  which  would  take  everything  that 
God  says  and  sift  it  through  its  own  ration- 
alistic sieve,  and  boldly  reject  whatever  will 
not  pass  through.  It  is  this  which  would 
explain  away  the  promise  of  the  text  by 
saying  that,  as  a  geiieral  thing,  if  a  child 


THE   FIFTH  COMMANDMENT  II3 

obey  his  parents,  he  will  be  kept  from  dan- 
ger by  thus  using  their  prudence  and  expe- 
rience, and  that  the  commandment  has  this 
general  statement  of  a  probable  long  life  to  a 
child  from  this  natural  cause.  The  prosperity, 
likewise,  would  be  a  prosperity  which  would 
nattirally  grow  out  of  harmony  between 
child  and  parent  arising  from  the  child's 
obedience,  w^herein  the  parent  would  do 
everything  to  further  the  child's  interests. 

Now,  in  answer  to  such  a  view,  let  us 
note  that  this  is  no  philosophical  statement 
made  by  man,  but  a  promise  made  by  God, 
It  is  true  as  God  is  true,  not  proximately 
true^  as  are  man's  apophthegms.  It  can 
have  no  real  exception,  any  more  than  the 
''  Come  unto  me,  and  I  will  give  you  rest," 
or  the  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved,"  can  have  excep- 
tions. The  man  who  keeps  this  command- 
ment is  full  possessor  of  the  promise,  or 
else  the  promise  is  a  delusion. 

But  the  objector  cries,  *'  Do  you  mean  to 


114         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

say  that  every  one  who  has  died  young  has 
been  disobedient  to  his  parents,  for  every 
one  who  had  honored  them  would  have 
lived  to  old  age  ?"  We  reply  that  there  is 
one  apparent  exception — where  the  soul  itself 
prefers  to  leave  this  world  for  a  better,  and 
where,  therefore,  the  letter  of  the  promise 
yields  to  its  spirit,  and  God,  instead  of  con- 
tinuing the  saint  upon  earth,  takes  him  to 
his  desired  home  in  heaven.  Where  this 
exception  does  not  occur,  we  must  believe 
that  every  one  who  dies  before  old  age  has 
disregarded  this  command.  Very  holy 
people  are  found  to  be  defective  in  some 
direction.  We  can  recall  some  sincerely 
pious  persons  who  had  very  violent  tem- 
pers, some  who  were  very  indolent,  some 
who  were  very  forgetful  of  others'  interests. 
They  would,  at  times,  grieve  over  these 
errors,  and  perhaps  gain  strength  against 
them,  but  there,  nevertheless,  the  black 
spots  on  their  character  were  visible.  So 
we  have  seen  saints  who  were  forward  in 


THE   FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  Il5 

every  good  work,  walking,  like  Zachariah 
and  Elizabeth,  in  all  the  commandments  of 
God  blameless,  patterns  of  holiness  to  the 
Church,  and  yet  who  had  not  faith  to  be- 
lieve that  God  would  be  a  God  of  salvation 
to  their  children,  and  so  their  children  went 
astray  like  the  wild  ass'  colts.  These  are 
the  eccentricities,  the  mysterious  freaks  of 
piety,  hard  to  account  for,  but  that  cannot 
be  denied  as  existing,  by  any  Christian 
observer.  In  like  manner,  we  may  find 
excellent  people,  hearts  that  love  Jesus 
and  receive  his  blood  of  atonement,  who, 
most  inconsistently,  are  deficient  in  respect 
to  their  filial  duties  of  reverence  and  regard. 
But  the  objector  says  again,  "  How  can 
lonof  life  be  a  blessing  to  the  Christian  ?  Is 
not  translation  to  heaven  his  desideratum  ?" 
The  answer  is,  first,  that  God  would  not 
have  promised  long  life  so  often  to  man  as 
a  reward  if  it  were  not  a  veritable  blessing. 
He  remembers  that  we  are  dust,  he  knows 
that  we  are  weak,  he  makes  allowance  for 


Il6         THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

our  low  degree  of  faith  and  aspiration,  he 
stoops  to  our  level  in  his  promise,  and  so 
promises  us  long  life  as  a  prize  for  faithful 
conduct  in  a  certain  direction.  Secondly, 
this  does  not  interfere  with  the  higher  de- 
sire  of  a  Paul  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better. 

I  have  seen  the  saints  of  the  Lord  who 
in  the  very  spring-time  of  youth  plumed 
their  wings  for  their  heavenly  flight,  who 
longed  to  soar  away,  and  to  whom  the  fairest 
attractions,  and  the  purest,  on  earth  •'/ere 
of  no  effect  to  withdraw  their  eager  eyes 
from  celestial  prospects.  By  their  owt*  con- 
sent and  desire,  God  could  waive  the  fulfill- 
ment of  this  promise  of  long  life  because 
its  very  meaning  was  null  in  their  case. 
But  these  cases  are  rare.  To  most  Chris- 
tians a  long  life  on  earth  is,  as  it  was  to 
Hezekiah  (good  man  that  he  was),  a  desir- 
able boon,  and  God  regards  their  feelings 
and  considers  it  so,  and  therefore  promises 
it  on    certain    conditions,   one   of  which  is 


THE   FIFTH  COMMAXDMEXT.  11/ 

respect  to  parents.  ''  My  son,  forget  not 
my  law,  but  let  thy  heart  keep  my  com- 
mandments, for  length  of  days  and  long 
life  and  peace  shall  they  add  to  thee.''  Prov. 
iii.  I,  2.  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy 
mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long  in  the 
land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee." 
The  only  other  condition  to  which  this  prom- 
ise is  annexed  is  that  of  "  dwellinor  in  the 
secret  place  of  the  Most  High"  (Ps.  xci.),  in 
regard  to  which,  of  the  man  who  habitually 
lives  in  the  fear  and  faith  of  God,  it  is  said  by 
Jehovah,  "With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him." 

Thus  much,  then,  for  the  promise.  Let 
us  now  consider — 

1 1 .  The  nahire  of  tJie  dicty  eiijohied :  "Hon- 
or thy  father  and  thy  mother."  The  word 
"  cabbed  "  is  very  strong ;  it  strictly  means 
"load  with  honor,"  and  is  often  used 
in  reference  to  the  Deity.  Obedience  is 
only  one  of  the  more  prominent  practical 
forms  of  this  honor.  The  honor  strikes 
deeper  than  mere  obedience — it  touches  the 


Il8         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

heart,  It  bespeaks  the  affections.  It  is  a 
reverence  Inwoven  in  the  very  nature,  con- 
nected with  all  the  chords  of  being,  and  so 
coming  to  the  surface  in  obedience  and  out- 
ward respect.  We  notice — i.  That  the 
command  is  not,  "  Honor  thy  father  and 
thy  mother  when  they  do  right!'  Our  pa- 
rents, like  ourselves,  are  frail  and  may  com- 
mit error.  If  their  error  absolved  their 
children  from  respect,  there  could  be  no 
filial  piety  in  the  world.  The  ground  of 
the  command  is  in  the  natural  relation  of 
the  parent,  and  not  In  his  personal  character. 
We  are  to  honor  our  parents  because  they 
2,r^  parents,  and  not  because  they  are  saints. 
Of  course  this  honor  will  not  go  so  far  as 
to  commit  or  connive  at  wickedness  at  their 
command,  for  here  the  other  commands  of 
God  and  the  principles  of  truth  modify  the 
commandment  in  its  application.  All  ap- 
plications of  great  truth  and  divine  com- 
mands are  modified  by  other  great  truths 
and  divine  commands,  as  we  have  seen  the 


THE  FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  II9 

command  to  keep  the  Sabbath  free  from 
ordinary  duties  is  modified  by  the  laws  of 
necessity  and  mercy.  It  may  become  a 
son's  duty  to  disobey  his  father  because  of 
a  command  to  do  evil,  or  to  fasten  him  with 
bonds  because  of  insanity ;  but  in  every 
such  exceptional  case  the  exception  stands 
boldly  out  as  a  testimony  to  the  rule  of 
obedience  and  respect.  While  the  honor 
due  to  parents  will  not  go  to  wicked  or 
foolish  lengths,  it  will  go  to  all  reasonable 
and  allowable  lengths.  It  will  submit  to 
inconvenience  and  loss ;  it  will  hold  its  pri- 
vate judgment  of  what  is  better  in  abey- 
ance ;  it  will  even  keep  its  own  clearly  su- 
perior wisdom  subject  to  the  parental  pre- 
judice. So  long  as  conformity  to  the  views 
and  expressed  wishes  of  parents  does  not 
harm  any  third  party,  a  right  respect  for 
father  and  mother  will  gracefully  yield  and 
lay  the  self-denial  on  the  altar  of  filial  piety. 
The  same  principle  teaches  a  jealous 
support    of  the    reputation    of    parents,    a 


I20         THOUGHTS   OiV  THE   DECALOGUE. 

readiness  to  excuse  their  foibles  and  mis- 
takes and  to  set  off  their  virtues  against 
their  errors.  It  will  not  allow  a  parent  to 
be  ridiculed  or  denounced  without  a  sol- 
emn protest;  and  if  the  fault  alleged  be 
true,  it  will  go  backward  and  reverentially 
cover  the  parent's  sin,  and  so  subdue  the 
rebuke. 

2.  The  command  is  not,  "  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother  while  thou  art  a 
little  childr  Many  act  as  if  they  had  no 
parents  after  they  had  reached  their  full 
stature,  and  some  use  this  theory  even 
earlier.  Now,  if  to  anybody  this  command 
is  not  given,  it  is  to  the  little  child,  for  in 
his  case  natttre  and  necessity  teach  some 
degree  of  obedience  and  respect  to  parents, 
and  hence  the  command  is  comparatively 
unnecessary  to  these.  The  command 
comes  with  peculiar  force,  and  is  especially 
directed,  to  children  who  have  entei'ed  man- 
hood and  womanhood.  They  are  to  remem- 
ber, in  spite  of  any  sense  of  physical  or 


THE  FIFTH  COMMANDMENT  121 

mental  or  social  Independence,  that  they 
are  still  the  children  of  their  parents,  and 
that  their  parents  are  their  parents  still. 
There  is  no  change  In  the  relationship,  only 
a  change  in  some  of  the  forins  of  its  duties. 
The  same  honor  Is  due  at  forty  that  was 
due  at  fourteen.  Nowhere  is  filial  rever- 
ence more  beautiful  than  when  exhibited 
by  a  mature  and  gifted  soul.  The  ancients 
pictured  this  in  their  story  of  Anchlses  and 
^neas,  and  the  modern  Turks  and  Arabs 
show  their  appreciation  of  this  virtue  by 
casting  stones  at  the  tomb  of  Absalom,  a 
prominent  example  of  the  opposite  vice. 

The  family  is  a  heavenly  institution,  and, 
like  the  pattern  shown  to  Moses  In  the 
mount,  has  a  heavenly  meaning  in  all  Its 
relations  and  relative  duties.  Woe  unto 
man  If  he  departs  from  the  divine  pattern 
and  corrupts  the  mysterious  type !  The 
husband  and  wife  represent  Christ  and  his 
Church,  the  parents  and  offspring  represent 
God  and    his  children,  and,  above   all,  the 


122         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

mystic  relation  of  God  the  Father  and  God 
the  Son.  We  only  know  the  mere  begin- 
ning of  the  truths  that  are  here  recorded 
in  the  hieroglyphic  of  our  earthly  life.  We 
cannot  tell  what  a  vast  perversion  of  truth 
we  may  make  by  the  alteration  of  these 
symbols,  nor  can  we  measure  the  evil  in- 
fluences and  results  that  such  a  perversion 
may  have,  even  though  the  hieroglyphic  be 
but  imperfectly  understood.  The  only  safe 
course  for  us  is  that  of  implicit  obedience,  a 
faithful  adherence  to  the  celestial  organiza- 
tion of  the  family,  in  spite  of  the  sugges- 
tions of  human  wisdom,  however  superior 
it  may  boast  itself,  and  in  spite  of  the  se- 
ductions of  a  sinful  and  selfish  individuality. 
When  we  show  all  deference  and  devotion 
to  our  parents,  we  know  not  what  an  illus- 
tration we  may  be  giving  to  unseen  worlds 
of  the  highest  truth,  and  what  an  emphasis 
we  are  adding  to  the  glory  of  our  God.  It 
is  this  inner  connection  of  our  outward 
domestic  life  which  gives  the  deep  thunder 


THE   FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  1 23 

of  the  death-penalty  to  the  lightning  flash 
of  the  commandment  in  the  civil  polity  of 
Israel.  For  as  the  host  of  God's  people 
stood  half  on  Gerizim  and  half  on  Ebal 
when  they  took  solemn  possession  of  their 
God-given  land,  the  very  second  curse  ut- 
tered before  them — the  one  immediately 
following  the  curse  upon  the  worshiper  of 
false  gods — was  this :  "  Cursed  be  he  that 
setteth  light  by  his  father  or  his  mother," 
to  which  the  whole  multitude  of  Israel 
shouted  their  responsive  "Amen!"  and  so 
we  find  in  the  inspired  code,  "  He  that  re- 
vileth  his  father  or  his  mother  shall  surely 
be  put  to  death." 

It  is  a  Jewish  tradition  (which  bears  the 
marks  of  authenticity  and  truth)  that  the 
man  who  was  executed  for  breaking  this 
law  of  parental  regard  was  denied  burial, 
and  his  body  was  cast  into  the  deep,  dark 
valley  of  Hinnom,  into  the  place  called 
Tophet,  where  the  unclean  birds  of  prey 
devoured   it.     It   is   to   this,   probably,   that 


124         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

Agur  refers  when  he  says,  **The  eye  that 
mocketh  at  his  father  and  despiseth  to  obey 
his  mother,  the  ravens  of  the  valley  shall 
pick  it  out  and  the  young  eagles  shall  eat 
it." 

This  peculiar  severity  of  punishment 
marks  a  peculiar  sanctity  of  the  command, 
which  is  sustained  by  the  very  phrase  we 
constantly  use  in  regard  to  the  virtue  en- 
joined, namely,  "filial  piety!'  There  is 
nothing,  then,  to  limit  the  application  of  the 
commandment  to  childhood  or  youth.  The 
barrier  of  twenty-one  years  is  a  mere  hu- 
man device,  useful  for  some  questions  per- 
taining to  human  law,  but  can  have  no  effect 
whatever  in  regard  to  a  divine  law.  The 
great  moral  and  religious  relation  of  parent 
and  child  never  ceases.  Even  when  the 
parent  is  dead,  the  parent's  memory  is  to 
be  cherished  with  reverential  affection  by 
the  surviving  child.  This  being,  then,  the 
purport  of  God's  law  issued  to  every  one 
of  us  from  Sinai,  let  us — 


THE   FIFTH  COMMANDMENT.  1 25 

III.  Lastly  and  briefly  ask  if  there  is  not 
7ieed  that  God's  will  in  this  matter  be  often 
rehearsed  in  onr  ears. 

As  already  suggested,  I  am  not  disposed 
to  make  a  special  application  of  this  com- 
mandment to  children.  Indeed,  in  reference 
to  children  at  all,  I  would  rather  urge  upon 
parents  their  duty  to  see  to  it  that  their 
children  are  obedient  from  the  earliest  in- 
fancy. I  would  say  not  to  little  children, 
''  Be  obedient  to  your  parents,"  but  rather 
to  parents,  "  Make  your  children  obedient.'' 
It  is  all  in  your  power.  If  you  indulge  your 
little  ones  in  little  irreverences  and  little 
disobediences  because  it  looks  "  so  cun- 
ning," and  foolish  friends  urge  you  to  the 
dangerous  pastime,  then  you  will  have  the 
little  disobedient  children  grow  to  be  big 
disobedient  children,  and  they  will  bring 
down  your  gray  hairs  with  sorrow  to  the 
grave.  Or  if,  through  sheer  carelessness 
and  selfish  laziness,  you  avoid  the  active 
watchfulness  and  discipline  that  are  neces- 


126         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

sary  to  ensure  obedience  and  to  promote 
an  obedient  habit,  you  will  obtain  the  same 
disastrous  result.  Beware,  too,  how,  in  your 
anxiety  to  have  your  boy  a  man  before  the 
time,  you  consent  to  his  consequential 
swagger  at  sixteen,  and  furnish  him  with  a 
night-key  as  a  help  to  independence,  in 
which  you  are  destroying  the  bonds  of 
dutiful  humility  and  respectful  submission 
with  which  God  bound  him  to  you  at  the 
first,  and  which  God  intended  you  to  pre- 
serve. It  is  in  this  way  I  would  apply 
the  fifth  commandment  to  young  children 
through  their  parents,  who  are  responsible 
before  God  and  man.  I  would  urge  upon 
them  the  necessity  of  bearing  ever  in  mind 
that  obedience  ,with  reverential  regard  Is 
the  very  rivet  which  holds  the  family  to- 
gether, that  every  other  fault  can  better  be 
tolerated  in  a  child  than  disobedience  or 
disrespect,  and  that  from  this  sin  spring 
most  legitimately  and  fruitfully  all  other 
forms  of  filial  iniquity  and  family  distress. 


THE  FIFTH  COMMANDMENT  12/ 

But  I  also  make  the  special  application 
of  the  text  to  children  of  maturer  growth — 
to  you  who  are  grown  to  man's  estate,  to 
you  who  are  married  and  have  families  of 
your  own,  and  who  have  perhaps  that  rich 
blessing  of  God  in  your  house,  a  grand- 
mother. Let  your  continued  reverence  for 
your  parent  or  parents  still  living  be  of 
itself  a  glorious  example,  deeply  written  on 
the  thoughts  and  future  memories  of  your 
own  children.  Surround  the  old  age  which 
adorns  and  honors  your  household  with 
the  tribute  of  your  assiduous  care,  jealous 
of  its  comfort  and  its  dignity,  and  cover  its 
defects  with  the  mantle  (not  of  your  charity, 
but)  of  your  filial  love  and  sympathy.  I 
have  seen  an  aged  father  made  to  act  as 
clerk  to  his  rich  son  in  this  city.  I  have 
seen  an  aged  mother  sent  up  into  a  mean 
garret  in  order  to  give  room  for  the  young 
vanities  who  called  her  son  their  father,  and 
you  have  all  seen  instances  of  similar  defi- 
ance to  this  fundamental  family  law  which 


128         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

God  has  stamped  on  nature  as  well  as  pub- 
lished by  the  writing  of  his  own  finger.  It. 
is  for  us,  who  look  to  the  Lord  Jesus  in  his 
obedience  to  his  Father  as  our  hope  and 
stay  eternal,  to  regard  all  such  disrespect  to 
parents  as  we  regard  theft,  falsehood  and 
murder,  and  to  shrink  from  either  the  letter 
or  the  spirit  of  a  violation  of  this  fifth  com- 
mandment. Blessed  is  that  house  which 
preserves  the  beautiful  symmetry  of  the 
family  group  as  the  grapes  cluster  grace- 
fully about  the  stem,  and  where  all  the  do- 
mestic virtues  find  their  principle  of  union 
and  development  in  their  common  connec- 
tion with  a  pervading  filial  piety.  It  is  in 
such  a  house  that  we  may  expect  to  find 
the  Master  as  a  welcome  guest,  for  there  is 
the  spirit  of  heaven. 


The  Sixth,  Seventh,  Eighth  and 
Ninth  Commandments. 

"  Thou  shaU  not  kill. 
Thou  shall  not  commit  adultery. 
Thou  shall  not  steal. 
Thou  shall  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor.^^ 

Exodus  xx.  13,  14,  15,  16, 

IT  must  be  very  noticeable  to  every 
reader  of  the  Decaloofue  that  its  com- 
mands  are  nearly  all  prohibitions.  There 
are  but  two  exceptions  in  the  ten — the  com- 
mandment of  the  Sabbath  and  that  of 
respect  to  parents.  All  the  rest  enjoin 
upon  man,  not  to  perform,  but  to  abstain. 
This  fact  exhibits  sin  as  an  ever-acting 
principle  which  man  is  called  upon  to 
thwart.  This  principle  acts  against  God 
and  against  our  fellow-man,  and  its  cessa- 

9  129 


130         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

tion  of  energy  can  only  be  founded  on  a 
love  to  God  stronger  than  love  to  self,  and 
a  love  to  our  neighbor  equal  to  the  love 
of  self.  So  when  God  commands  us  to 
cease  from  sin,  he  is  really  bidding  us  to  be 
holy.  By  putting  his  commandments  in 
this  form,  he  is  showing  us  the  positive 
character  of  our  sins,  and  our  true  hostility 
to  him  while  under  the  sway  of  sin.  He 
shows  us  that,  so  far  from  imposing  a  new 
task  upon  us,  he  is  only  requiring  that  we 
should  renounce  the  old  tasks  which  we, 
as  the  servants  of  sin,  have  assumed ;  that 
thus  in  our  differences  with  him  it  is  we 
that  have  left  him  and  not  he  that  has  left 
us,  and  that  religion  is  seeking  the  true  by 
giving  up  the  false — a  process  which  the 
Scriptures  teach  us  is  rendered  possible 
only  by  the  redeeming  work  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

This  method  of  announcing  God's  will 
to  man  is  eminently  adapted  to  bring  out 
into  clear  relief  man's  responsibility.     It  is 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.        I3I 

man  who  has  broken  the  harmony — it  is  his 
to  restore  it.  It  is  man  who  has  rebelled — 
it  is  his  to  give  up  his  rebellion.  His  activ- 
ities are  running  counter  to  God's  will  and 
law,  and  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  he 
must  negative  this  counteraction  in  order 
to  be  at  peace  with  God. 

This  view  of  man's  condition  as  a  positive 
sinner  summoned  to  cease  his  sin,  rather 
than  a  neutral  urged  to  a  positive  work, 
also  shows  us  in  very  deep  colors  the  won- 
derful grace  of  God,  which  is  the  more 
wonderful,  not  that  it  comes  to  help  man 
in  an  arbitrarily  imposed  work,  but  to  run 
after  him  in  his  wayward  folly  and  restore 
him  to  a  position  he  had  forfeited:  "God 
commendeth  his  love  toward  us,  in  that 
ivhile  we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us." 

In  examining  the  ten  commandments  thus 
far,  we  have  seen  that  the  first  three  en- 
joined a  reverence  for  God  in  his  essence 
and  expression,  and  the  next  two  enjoined 
the  same  reverence  by  ways  promotive  of 


132         THOUGHTS   O.V  THE  DECALOGUE. 

man's  highest  Interests — namely,  the  observ- 
ance of  God's  holy  day  and  respect  for 
parental  authority,  which  is  the  type  and 
reflection  of  the  divine  authority.  Through 
this  last  we  find  our  way  into  the  command- 
ments which  refer  exclusively  to  our  duty 
to  man.  Of  these  there  are  five.  The 
first  four  we  group  together.  They  each 
read,  '*  Thou  shall  not  injure  thy  fellow- 
ma7i!' 

We  cannot  injure  God — we  can  only  act 
irreverently  and  carelessly  toward  God,  and 
so  injure,  not  him,  but  ourselves — but  our 
fellow-man  we  can  positively  injure,  and  it 
is  a  prime  temptation  in  the  race  of  life  to 
gain  on  our  fellow,  not  by  our  diligence,  but 
by  thrusting  him  down.  Sin  has  made  us 
natural  enemies  to  one  another,  Ishmaelites, 
whose  hands  are  against  every  man,  and 
every  man's  hand  against  us.  The  selfish 
beast  who  crowds  out  his  neighbor  from  the 
crib  or  even  tears  him  in  pieces  to  destroy 
his  rivalship  is  but  a  pattern  of  man  if  the 


SIXTH   TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 33 

restraints  of  society  and  providence,  from 
without,  be  withdrawn. 

Man's  condition  by  nature  is  not  seen  in 
man's  condition  in  England,  France  or  civ- 
ilized America,  but  in  man's  condition  in 
the  savage  island  of  the  Pacific,  where  the 
heavenly  rays  of  the  gospel  have  least  pen- 
etrated. The  civilizations  of  Christianity 
exhibit,  not  humanity,  but  Christianity.  The 
civilizations  of  ancient  Persia,  Greece  and 
Rome  (although  a  little  revelation  filtered 
through  upon  them)  exhibit  humanity,  in  its 
best  estate,  as  a  refined  selfishness,  where 
every  man  seeks  (adroitly,  perhaps,  and  not 
openly)  to  injure  his  neighbor.  But  even 
the  external  refinement  of  these  unchristian 
civilizations  may  be  traced  to  that  which 
divine  grace  has,  through  its  revelation, 
superimposed  upon  the  sinful  race  of  man. 
Man,  left  to  himself,  is  the  savage,  the  can^ 
nibal,  the  beast  ! 

The  injury  which  man  can  do  to  his  fel- 
low-man  can  be  divided  into  four  kinds — 


134         THOUGHTS   ON   THE  DECALOGUE. 

injury  to  person,  Injury  to  society,  injury 
to  property  and  injury  to  reputation.  The 
four  commandments  of  the  Decalogue  in  re- 
lation to  man's  injury  of  man  respectively 
relate  to  these  four  forms  of  human  injus- 
tice. "Thou  shalt  not  kill"  regards  any 
assault  on  the  person  ;  "  thou  shalt  not  com- 
mit adultery,"  any  assault  on  society  ;  "  thou 
shalt  not  steal,"  any  assault  on  property; 
and  "  thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness,"  any 
assault  on  reputation.  Harm  from  my  fel- 
low-man can  reach  me  only  through  one  of 
these  four  channels,  and  I  can  do  harm  to 
another  only  through  the  same. 

When  God  surrounded  man  by  the  circle 
of  his  grace  and  made  him  a  probationer 
amid  the  opportunities  of  glory,  he  thereby 
made  man's  person  sacred.  Enough  of  the 
image  of  God  was  left  by  the  very  proximity 
of  this  grace  to  fence  around  man's  person 
from  a  violence  which  would  be  sacrilege. 
So  we  hear  God,  when  Noah  and  his  sons 
were    recommencing    the    history    of    the 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 35 

world,  declaring,  "At  the  hand  of  every 
man's  brother  will  I  require  the  life  of  man. 
Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall 
his  blood  be  shed ;  for  in  the  image  of  God 
made  he  man."  Whatever  there  was  of 
sanctity  in  the  person  of  a  man  was  the 
result  of  the  godly  implantation  maintained 
in  the  conscience  by  the  continual  grace  of 
God.  When  that  spark  was  allowed  to  be 
put  out,  then  man's  sacredness  of  person 
was  at  an  end.  The  souls  that  have  gone 
beyond  the  region  of  God's  long-suffering 
have  no  longer  a  fortified  personality.  They 
are  left  open  to  the  unrestrained  attacks  of 
malevolence.  A  man  in  hell  is  unchecked 
in  his  aggressions  upon  others,  and  no 
sacredness  of  person  checks  aggressions 
upon  himself.  There  is  no  law  against 
murder  in  that  lower  realm,  for  the  law  and 
the  sacredness  of  the  person  are  both  of 
God,  and  everything  that  is  godly  has  with- 
drawn from  the  eternal  chaos  of  sin,  to  dwell 
for  ever  among  the  trophies  of  the  victories 


136         THOUGHTS   ON'  THE   DECALOGUE. 

of  grace.  But  here  upon  earth,  where  grace 
marks  the  history  of  every  day,  with  each 
of  us,  in  kind  providential  deaHngs,  in  abiU- 
ties  and  in  opportunities,  the  human  person 
is  sacred  and  the  law  against  its  injury  in 
full  and  hopeful  force.  The  king's  person 
is  called  sacred,  but  God  recognizes  the 
person  of  the  humblest  peasant  to  be  as 
sacred  as  the  person  of  a  king,  the  sacred- 
ness  being  not  in  the  royalty,  but  in  the 
inarihood,  of  the  man,  through  grace  crea- 
tive, grace  administrative  and  grace  re- 
demptive. It  is  against  such  a  one  that 
God  says,  "Do  no  injury." 

"  Do  not  kill "  merely  marks  out  the  limit 
of  the  injury  to  the  person.  But  it  is  like 
*a  siofn-board  on  the  borders  of  an  estate — it 
includes  the' whole  estate.  It  embraces  in 
its  comprehensive  brevity  murder  in  em- 
bryo as  well  as  murder  in  maturity.  It 
points  to  the  woi^d  and  thought  and  feeling 
of  murder  as  well  as  to  the  overt  act.  If, 
in  one  sense,  man  is  anointed  of  the  Lord, 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 3/ 

and  hence  the  killing  him  is  sin,  it  is  just  as 
truly  sin  to  lift  tip  the  hand  in  threat,  to 
open  the  77toicth  to  revile,  or  to  think  evil 
aeainst  the  Lord's  anointed.  It  is  thus  that 
our  Saviour  interprets  this  law  when  he 
sees  denou-nced  in  it  the  *'Raca"  and  the 
"  More  "*  of  the  angry  man.  Our  brother 
man's  body  is  a  temple  of  God,  actual  or 
possible,  and  the  respect  for  that  divine 
temple  is  to  begin  in  the  heart,  and  by  this 
respect  our  tendency  to  ridicule,  to  despise 
or  to  neglect  is  to  be  overcome. 

By  a  parity  of  reasoning,  we  are  not 
simply  to  abstain  from  the  overt  act  of 
adultery,  which  irrevocably  destroys  the 
ties  of  family  and  friendship  and  makes 
society  a  wreck,  but  the  whole  field  of  im- 
purity is  to  be  abandoned  by  our  thoughts. 
The  roots  of  the  crime  are  to  be  destroyed 
as  well  as  the  stalk  that  appears  above 
ground  to  human  observation.  It  is  not 
that  the  thought  has  a  tendency  to  lead  to 

*  "  Thou  fool "  or  "  thou  rebel." 


138         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

the  act,  but  that  the  thought  is  wrong  in 
itself;  and  even  if  it  never  go  farther,  the 
sin  has  been  committed.  It  is  one  of  the 
prominent  deceptions  of  sin  to  make  the 
outward  act  the  crime,  and  hence  to  justify 
base  thoughts  and  imaginations  if  they  be 
only  confined  to  the  individual  mind.  But 
before  God  the  crime  is  in  the  immoral  po- 
sition of  the  heart — a  crime  which  can  be  ex- 
aggerated in  its  earthly  results,  but  not  in 
its  intrinsic  viciousness,  by  a  development 
in  action.  The  very  condemnation  of  the 
world  over  whom  God  sent  the  deluge  was 
that  "  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of 
men's  hearts  was  only  evil  continually," 
and  the  same  pure  and  holy  God,  who 
visited  those  antediluvians  first  with  his 
grace,  and  then  with  his  judgment,  is  he 
with  whom  we  have  to  do,  who  desires 
"  truth  in  the  inward  parts "  and  who 
recognizes  sin  as  a  matter  of  the  heart. 
Moreover,  just  as  anger  is  an  injury  to 
the  person   of  the    object,   inasmuch  as    it 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 39 

degrades  and  profanes  him  in  our  eyes, 
so  impurity  is  an  injury  to  society,  inasmuch 
as  it  lowers  our  estimate  of  the  social  bond 
and  weakens  it  so  far  as  we  are  concerned. 

The  position  of  the  heart  in  each  of  these 
cases  is  a  wrong  done  to  our  fellow,  and  in 
this  way  we  see  the  true  scope  of  the  com- 
mandments, to  which  our  Saviour  gave  no 
addition  in  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  but 
only  an  interpretation.  The  anger  and 
impurity  which  he  forbade  are  found  in 
the  killing  and  committing  adultery  which 
the  law  of  Sinai  forbade.  The  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  is  only  an  echo  of  the  Law  on 
the  Mount. 

Society  is  sacred  because  the  individual 
man  is  sacred ;  and  as  there  is  an  image  of 
God  in  every  man,  so  there  is  a  symbol  and 
type  of  the  heavenly  family  in  human  society, 
and  its  bonds  of  blood,  affinity  and  friend- 
ship have  a  divine  element  in  them.  Society 
is  no  more  man-made  than  is  man  himself 
man-made,    and    he    who    dares    to    set   at 


I40  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

naught  its  holy  bonds  In  act  or  in  heart  is 
an  enemy  to  God  and  truth.  The  man  who 
reads  Hcentious  novels,  or  indulges  in  lasciv- 
ious dancing,  or  countenances  the  nudities'^ 
of  so-called  art,  in  life,  image  or  picture, 
when  God  made  and  gave  clothes  to  man 
and  woman,  thus  sets  himself  against  God 
and  undermines  the  structure  of  holiness 
which  God  himself  has  built  for  our  good 
and  his  own  glory. 

The  injuries  to  property  and  reputation 
bear  a  strong  analogy  to  the  injuries  to  the 
person  and  society.  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal  " 
and  "  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  '* 
contain  the  same  implication  of  man's  sa- 
credness  seen  in  the  murder  prohibition. 
A  man's  property  and  reputation  are  sacred, 
not  because  they  are  property  and  reputa- 
tion, but  because  they  are  man's  property 
and  reputation.    Property  is  the  adjunct  of  a 

*  The  Cupids,  Psyches,  Apollos,  Unas  and  Venuses,  multiplying 
in  our  parlors,  and  becoming  more  and  more  wanton  in  posture 
and  color,  show  the  public  preference  of  Greek  heathenism  to  a 
chaste  Christianity. 


SIXTH   TO  NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       I4I 

man  In  his  own  keeping,  and  reputation  is  the 
adjunct  of  a  man  in  the  keeping  of  society. 
SteaHng  is  not  wrong  as  simply  incon- 
veniencing our  neighbor,  as  a  utilitarian 
philosophy  would  teach.  An  act  of  theft 
might  never  be  known  to  our  neighbor,  and 
yet  It  would  be  just  as  much  an  act  of  theft 
as  if  It  had  brought  him  to  poverty.  It  in- 
jures our  neighbor  In  his  status  In  our  re- 
gard and  estimation,  where  he  has  a  right 
to  stand  respected  and  honored.  Because 
he  is  not  aware  of  the  injury.  It  Is  no  less 
an  injury.  ,  I  may  intercept  treasure  coming 
to  another,  and  he  never  know  of  the  In- 
tended gift  or  of  my  interference,  but  I 
have  foully  wronged  him,  nevertheless.  It 
Is  a  crime  against  the  Individual  man's 
sacred  majesty,  and  not  to  be  measured  at 
all  by  visible  results.  Counting  damages 
is  a  low,  carnal  way  of  reckoning  the  weight 
of  a  crime.  It  may  do  for  a  police  regula- 
tion in  outward  society,  but  It  Is  of  no  value 
In  the  spiritual  realm.     There  the  crime  has 


142         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

a  character  in  itself  outside  of  any  visible 
consequences.  It  is  branded  as  an  enmity 
to  God.  So  overwhelmingly  does  this  view 
of  the  sin  press  itself  upon  the  fully  awak- 
ened sinner  that  a  David  who  has  commit- 
ted adultery  and  murder,  and  thus  assaulted 
man  socially  and  personally,  cries  out,  in  the 
bitterness  of  his  anguish  of  remorse  before 
God,  "  Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sin- 
ned." The  harm  to  man  disappears  in  the 
insult  to  God  which  gives  its  deepest  color 
to  the  crime. 

It  is  this  innate  character  of  our  injury 
of  man  which  extends  the  law  against  theft 
to  all  forms  of  withdrawing  or  withholding 
from  our  neighbor  whatever  might  be  rightly 
counted  as  his,  whether  of  material  estate, 
of  personal  ability  in  body  or  mind,  or  of 
advantages  and  opportunities.  I  not  only 
must  not  take  away  my  neighbor's  watch, 
but  I  must  not  stand  in  the  way  of  the  use 
of  his  means  of  personal  benefit,  I  must 
not  lessen  his  chances  of  success  by  adverse 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 43 

processes  and  I  must  not  encroach  unne- 
cessarily upon  his  time  and  system.  If  I 
prosper  by  defeating  him,  as  in  gambUng  or 
mercantile  trickery  (called  shrewdness),  I  am 
robbing  him.  So  in  regard  to  his  reputa- 
tion. I  am  to  be  judged  as  much  in  regard 
to  my  silence  as  my  speech  concerning  him. 
If  I  have  kept  his  reputation  from  growing, 
by  keeping  silent  when  I  ought  to  have 
spoken  for  him,  I  am  as  much  guilty  of 
bearing  false  witness  as  if  I  had  opened  my 
mouth  in  slander.  I  have  not  reo^arded 
him  with  that  respect  with  which  it  became 
me  to  reorard  one  made  in  the  imao^e  of  God. 
I  have  done  this  evil  in  God's  sight  and 
against  him. 

It  is  from  this  view  of  these  commands  that 
we  rightly  understand  our  Saviour's  decla- 
ration that  the  whole  of  the  second  table  is 
summed  up  in  the  one  spiritual  law:  "Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  A  true 
love  for  our  fellow-man  will  alone  prevent 
these  four  styles  of  injury. 


144      rnouGHrs  on  the  decalogue. 

Love  is  beneficent,  selfishness  Is  malevo- 
lent, and  there  is  no  neutral  ground  between 
them.  The  love  of  our  neio-hbor  as  our- 
selves  regards  each  man  as  possessing  the 
same  sacred  character  which  w^e  personally 
possess,  and  thus  makes  us  jealous  for  our 
neighbor's  rights  and  welfare.  And  this 
sacred  character,  as  we  have  seen,  is  only 
found  in  the  image  of  God  which  we  bear,  so 
that  the  whole  of  the  law  has  one  grand  foun- 
dation, reverence  for  God.  This  principle, 
and  not  any  philosophical  speculation  about 
natural  rights,  is  the  root  of  the  entire  ten 
commandments.  So  we  see  in  fact  that  a 
morality  based  on  natural  rights  is  always  a 
failure,  both  from  the  vague  definitions  of 
natural  rights  and  the  ease  with  which 
human  lust  or  ambition  will  resist  and  over- 
come such  a  motive,  while  a  morality  based 
on  regard  for  God,  a  reverential  love  for  his 
holy  name,  is  never  a  failure.  This  is  a  re- 
ligious morality,  the  only  one  to  be  trusted. 

The  whole  formula,  then,  of  the  law,  as 


SIXTH  TO   NINTH  COMMANDMENTS.       1 45 

seen  through  the  gospel,  Is  this  :  **  Love  God, 
and  love  man  for  God's  sake,  through  Jesus 
Christ,  the  God-man." 

This  is  the  great  argument ;' but  while 
pressing  it,  we  do  not  forget  that  there  are 
many  collateral  and  subordinate  arguments, 
and  some  low  minds  need  the  lower  argu- 
ments. To  one  man  it  is  enough  to  say, 
''  Do  not  steal,  because  it  dishonors  God," 
but  to  another  you  may  be  obliged  to  say, 
"  Do  not  steal,  or  you  will  go  to  prison." 
The  consequeiices  to  one's  self  of  violating 
the  four  commands  under  consideration  are 
usually  treated  of  in  connection  with  the 
subject.  We  are  satisfied  to  pass  them  by 
with  a  word.  The  murderer,  the  adulterer, 
the  thief  and  the  liar,  even  in  their  begin- 
nings of  anger,  impurity,  acquisitiveness 
and  deceit,  are  soul-suicides.  They  are 
pressing  out  from  their  souls  all  that  is 
divine,  obliterating  God's  image,  shaking  off 
the  kind  fetters  of  grace,  and  so  removing 
the  very  foundation  from  what  remains  to 

10 


14^         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

them  of  hope  and  peace.  You  who  are 
secretly  breaking  these  commandments  in 
your  heart  are  poisoning  your  whole  moral 
system.  Even  if  you  may  be  a  miser  with- 
out hurting  your  neighbor  (which  we  deny), 
yet  you  can't  be  a  miser  without  hurting 
yourself.  The  angry  man  slays  himself; 
the  lewd  soul  pollutes  itself;  the  miser 
robs  himself,  and  the  slanderer  destroys  his 
own  reputation.  There  is  no  resisting  the 
sequence  of  sin  and  punishment,  except  in 
permitting  the  interference  of  divine  grace 
which  saves  from  punishment,  and,  going 
farther,  saves  from  sin,  which  presents  the 
Lord  Jesus  as  the  victim  for  sin  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  the  cleanser  from  sin. 
Without  this  divine  grace,  each  one  of  us 
must  pursue  his  sins  to  the  bitter  end.  In 
Christ  pardon  and  holiness  are  twin  gifts. 
*'  The  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of 
God  is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  "  Hereby  we  know  that  he  abideth 
in  us,  by  the  Spirit  which  he  hath  given  us." 


ix^ 

^^""o 


The  Tenth  Commandment. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not  covet 
thy  neighbo7'''s  ivife,  nor  his  matt-servant,  nor  his  maid-servant, 
nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor' s^ — 
Exodus  xx.  17, 

THE  ten  commandments  begin  with  a 
demand  upon  the  inmost  heart  for  its 
true  relation  toward  God,  and  they  end  with 
an  appeal  to  the  inmost  heart  in  regard  to 
man's  true  relation  to  his  fellow.  Having 
given  four  prohibitions  of  outward  injury 
toward  our  neighbor,  which  legitimately 
refer  to  the  position  of  the  affections,  the 
Decalogue  expressly  gathers  up  the  prohibit 
tions  into  a  direct  injunction  upon  the  soul. 
''  Thou  shalt  not  covet "  prohibits  the  very 
source  of  murder,  adultery,  theft  and  slan- 
der.    In  thus  closinfj  his  law  to  all  men  for 

147 


148  THOUGHTS    ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

all  time,  the  Most  High  shows  that  a  heart- 
service  to  man,  as  to  himself,  is  all  that  he 
can  recognize  as  true.  He  judges  not  ac- 
cording to  any  outward  appearance,  but  he 
looks  to  the  heart.  There  is  the  individ- 
uality, the  personality,  the  man. 

Here  is  the  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween human  and  divine  law.  Human  law 
has  to  do  with  the  outward  act  primarily 
and  principally,  and  with  the  motive  only 
secondarily  and  proximately.  It  seeks  as 
its  ultimates  for  outward  peace,  not  for  in- 
ward truth.  But  the  divine  law  deals 
directly  with  the  motive  and  heart-principle, 
and  with  the  outward  act  only  as  flowing 
forth  from  the  motive.  Inward  truth — 
''  truth  in  the  inward  parts,"  as  David 
expresses  it — is  the  holy  and  just  aim  and 
requirement  of  the  infinitely  holy  God. 
Truth,  religion,  duty  (whatever  you  may 
call  it),  is  a  spiritual  matter,  and  hence  the 
place  of  obedience  and  reform  is  within. 
''  God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship  him 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT,  149 

must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
All  attempts  at  an  outward  conformity  to 
God's  law  without  the  inward  life  are  but 
the  paintings  of  a  corpse  into  the  semblance 
of  life.  The  clean  heart,  the  new  life,  is 
what  alone  can  meet  the  demands  of  the 
Decaloofue. 

This  grand  truth,  so  readily  assented  to 
and  so  readily  set  aside,  Is  shadowed  forth 
in  our  own  demands  of  our  children.  Who 
of  us  wishes  his  children  to  be  obedient 
automata?  Who  would  be  satisfied  with  a 
family  that  went  by  mechanical  machinery  ? 
Do  we  not  expect  love  as  the  principle  in 
the  movements  of  the  household  ?  And  if 
love  is  found  to  be  wanting  in  the  child,  is 
not  his  legalistic  obedience,  his  strictness 
with  regard  to  the  letter,  almost  an  offence 
to  us?  Can  we  hold  these  most  proper 
practical  views  of  earthly  relationships,  and 
yet  suppose  that  God  can  be  satisfied  with 
anything  less  than  the  heart  in  his  children  ? 

The  ten  commandments,  as  we  see,  begin 


ISO         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

and  end  with  this  view  of  his  fatherly  will 
concerning  us,  and  yet,  with  strange  per- 
versity, men  are  continually,  like  the  young 
ruler  in  the  Gospel,  quoting  this  holy  law  as 
a  "touch-not,  taste-not,  handle-not"  law,  to 
be  obeyed  by  ceremonial  exactness  or  by 
ascetic  precision. 

There  is  a  still  higher  view  of  this  com- 
mandment  against  covetousness  than  its 
reference  to  our  inward  relation  to  our  fel- 
low-man. The  Holy  Spirit  has  himself 
shown  its  reference  to  our  direct  relation  to 
God  when  he  has  explained  covetousness 
to  be  idolatry.  In  Col.  iii.  5  we  read :  "  Mor- 
tify, therefore,  your  members  which  are 
upon  the  earth,  fornication,  uncleanness, 
inordinate  affection,  evil  concupiscence,  and 
covetousness,  which  is  idolatry  f  and  again, 
in  Eph.  V.  5  :  "  For  this  ye  know,  that  no 
whoremonger,  nor  unclean  person,  nor  cov- 
etous mail,  who  is  an  idolater,  hath  any  in- 
heritance in  the  kingdom  of  Christ."  This 
last  commandment  brings  us  back   to  the 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  151 

first.  We  started  with  God  and  we  end 
with  God.  We  find  that  if  our  true  rela- 
tion with  God  be  maintained,  then  all  other 
relations  will  adjust  themselves  rightly,  and 
that  our  duty  to  our  neighbor  is  foicnded  on 
our  duty  to  God.  This  thought,  as  taught 
in  God's  word,  will  dissipate  any  hopes  we 
may  have  formed  from  human  schemes  of 
philanthropy  and  social  progress.  The 
systems  of  Fourier  and  St.  Simon  have  ut- 
terly failed,  from  ignoring  the  love  of  God 
as  the  source  of  all  philanthropy,  supposing 
that  we  could  be  rightly  disposed  toward 
our  fellow-man  without  any  regard  to  our 
relations  toward  God,  or  often  supposing 
what  was  nearly  equivalent — that  our  con- 
duct toward  our  fellow  was  the  whole  of 
religion.  Let  us,  then,  have  this  lesson 
deeply  impressed  upon  our  hearts  from  our 
examinations  of  God's  holy  law — that  love 
to  man  is  but  an  offshoot  of  love  to  God, 
that  our  relative  duties  upon  earth  must 
derive  their  worth  and  efficiency  from  our 


152         THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

positive  devotion  to  our  heavenly  Father, 
and  that  hence  the  one  thinof  needful  for 
every  man  Is  the  yielding  of  his  heart  to 
God. 

With  these  thoughts  we  may  proceed 
more  wisely  to  consider  the  meaning  of  the 
tenth  commandment.  Let  us  endeavor  to 
answer  four  questions  :  What  Is  coveting? 
What  are  the  objects  which  we  must  not 
covet  ?  What  Is  the  harm  of  covetlnof  ? 
And,  How  can  we  avoid  coveting  ? 

I.  What  is  coveting?  On  looking  at 
the  Hebrew  word  here  used,  "  hhamad,"  we 
find  that  it  is  used  of  righteous  conduct,  as 
for  example,  in  Ps.  Ixviii.  i6:  "  This  is  the  hill 
which  God  deslreth  (lit.,  cavetetJi,  or  hhamad) 
to  dwell  in."  So  In  Song  of  Solomon  II.  3  : 
"I  sit  down  under  his  shadow  with  great 
delight,"  which  Is  literally,  "  I  covet  to  sit 
down  in  his  shade."  And  so  the  equivalent 
word  in  Greek  ijir^loio),  used  by  the  apostle 
James  In  the  passages,  "  Ye  kill  and  desire 
or  covet  to  have,"  is  also  used  In  such  pas- 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  1 53 

sages  as  these  in  the  first  Epistle  of  Paul 
to  the  Corinthians :  "  Covet  to  prophesy," 
"  Covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts."  The 
Hebrew  word  is  really  but  expressive  of 
a  strong  controlling  desire.  Every  man  has 
such  a  desire.  The  soul  is  so  constituted 
that  It  cannot  act  but  through  its  desires,  and 
one  desire  must  always,  from  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  be  the  leader  in  any  particular 
action.  These  desires  may  be  eiilightened 
through  the  intelligence  and  their  interrela- 
tions thus  changed,  but  they  will  always  re- 
main the  springs  of  life.  i\s  a  man  thinketh 
or  desireth  In  his  heart,  so  is  he,  whatever 
may  repress  the  visible  exhibition  of  his 
character. 

Coveting,  then,  as  simply  "  ardent  desire," 
is  not  forbidden  per  se  in  the  commandment, 
but  a  special  form  of  coveting,  determined 
by  the  objects  enumerated.  The  good  or 
evil  of  a  desire  is  measured  by  its  object 
and  the  relations  of  that  object  to  ourselves. 
Not  by  Its  object  alone,  for  I  may  desire 


154         THOUGHTS   ON   THE   DECALOGUE. 

another  man's  house  ;  the  house  is  a  very 
good  house,  but  the  desire  is  a  very  bad* 
desire,  because  the  7'elations  of  that  house 
to  me  are  such  as  to  condemn  the  desire. 
My  desire,  therefore,  as  to  its  goodness  or 
badness,  is  to  be  determined  by  the  object 
and  its  relation  to  me.  Indeed,  on  close 
examination,  it  will  be  found  that  nothing 
(unless  it  be  a  rational,  moral  being  itself) 
is  intrinsically  bad,  that  no  object  which  I 
can  desire  is  in  itself  evil,  that  all  the  bad 
and  the  evil  is  really  in  the  relation  it  bears 
to  me  if  I  use  it  or  seek  it.  Prussic  acid  in 
itself  is  not  bad — it  is  just  as  good  as  bread 
or  milk ;  but  it  would  be  evil  in  me  to  use 
or  seek  prussic  acid  as  my  food,  because  its 
relation  to  me  in  that  case  would  be  perni- 
cious. We  are  often  confused  by  words. 
We  apply  the  words  good  and  bad  to  moral 
good  and  evil,  and  also  to  mere  physical 
properties,  and  then  draw  false  conclusions 
from  this,  which  logicians  call  an  "ambigu- 
ous middle."     Moral  good  or  evil  requires 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  155 

a  rational  responsible  agent ;  the  good  or 
evil  is  in  the  relation  between  this  rational 
responsible  agent  and  the  object  of  his  de- 
sire or  use.  The  good  or  evil  is  not  in  the 
object,  but  in  me  as  acting  on  or  toward 
the  object.  The  coveting,  then,  in  this  com- 
mandment, having  reference  to  the  peculiar 
relation  subsisting  between  certain  objects 
and  ourselves,  let  us  proceed  to  the  second 
question. 

II.  What  are  the  objects  which  we  micst 
not  covet?  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy 
neighbor's  house,  thou  shalt  not  covet  thy 
neighbor's  wife,  nor  his  man-servant,  nor 
his  maid-servant,  nor  his  ox,  nor  his  ass, 
nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's." 

The  special  objects  here  enumerated  are 
not  exhaustive,  but  only  representative  of 
a  large  class.  The  last  clause  denotes  the 
wide  ranee  from  which  the  enumerated  ob- 
jects  are  taken  as  specimens.  The  house, 
the  wife,  the  servants,  the  cattle,  represent 
the   four  principal  departments  of  a  man's 


156         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

earthly  establishment — namely,  his  material 
possessions,  his  family,  his  household  and 
his  "live-stock."  They  illustrate  and  tend 
to  define  the  comprehensive  phrase,  "any- 
thing that  is  thy  neighbor's." 

It  is  in  this  last  phrase  we  particularly 
trace  the  answer  to  our  question.  If  any- 
thing belongs  to  our  neighbor,  either  by 
the  tie  of  property,  as  a  house,  or  by  the 
tie  of  domestic  union,  as  a  wife,  it  thereby 
partakes  of  the  sacredness  of  his  own  per- 
son, and  is  so  to  be  viewed  by  us.  The 
coveting  any  such  object  for  ourselves  is 
directly  at  war  with  this  view.  It  pollutes 
this  sanctity,  it  destroys  in  our  heart  the 
harmony  of  things  and  introduces  confusion. 
It  is  against  this  form  of  coveting  that  the 
command  of  God  lifts  itself.  Anything  ap- 
pertaining to  our  neighbor  is  in  such  rela- 
tion to  us  as  to  condemn  all  covetine.  The 
elements  of  his  wealth,  his  happiness,  his 
fame,  his  success,  are  all  included.  His  time, 
his  talents,  his  opportunities,  his  advantages, 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  IS7 

SO  far  as  they  are  peculiarly  his  and  are  not 
common  to  all,  are  in  the  same  category. 

When  we  consider  that  the  injury  to  our 
neighbor  is  the  basis  of  the  wrong  in  cov- 
eting, and  that  this  injury  receives  its  cha- 
racter from  the  Image  of  God  in  man,  we 
can  derive  the  legitimate  corollary  that  we 
have  no  right  to  covet  anything  which  will 
injure  ourselves ;  for  God's  own  compend  of 
the  second  table  of  the  law  is,  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself!'  Indeed,  we 
can  deduce  this  conclusion  in  another  way, 
thus :  Our  health  of  body  and  soul  is  a 
blessing  to  our  neighbor ;  it  is  so  much 
benefit  and  profit  to  him  ;  it  goes  (or  should 
go)  to  make  up  the  sum  of  his  happiness. 
Now,  then,  we  have  no  right  to  harm  that 
health  of  body  or  soul,  for  then  we  shall 
be  harming  our  neighbor.  If  I  covet  any- 
thing injurious  to  my  own  personal  effi- 
ciency as  a  member  of  society,  I  am  plotting 
against  my  neighbor,  I  have  begun  an  at- 
tack upon  him.     What  a  wide  horizon  this 


158         THOUGHTS   ON    THE   DECALOGUE. 

sweeps !    *'  Thou   shalt  not  covet  anything 
that  is  thy  neighbor's  !" 

III.  What  is  the  ha?nn  of*  coveting  ?  The 
objector  may  say,  "  If  the  coveting  goes  so 
far  as  to  become  overt  crime,  I  see  the 
harm ;  but  what  is  the  harm  of  coveting  if 
systematically  restrained  from  outward  ac- 
tion, if  indulged  only  in  the  heart?"  The 
reply  is,  first,  no  system  can  restrain  it. 
You  might  as  well  say,  "  I  will  put  the  coal 
of  fire  inside  the  gunpowder-keg  and  shut 
it  up  there  tight."  But  if  the  supposition 
could  be  true,  and  you  could  indulge  in  and 
cultivate  a  coveting  which  would  never  go 
farther,  there  are  two  directions  of  evil 
which  even  we  can  detect — God  may  see  a 
thousand  more.  We  can  see,  first,  that  // 
degrades  our  neighbor  in  our  hearts.  If  he 
is  the  object  of  our  hypothetical  plunder, 
he  is  necessarily  lowered  in  our  estimation. 
But  as  we  have  considered  this  thought  in 
a  former  chapter,  we  pass  to  the  second, 
which  is — 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  1 59 

That  we  ai^e  mussing  the  brood  of  sin  in 
our  souls.  Sins  always  group  together. 
They  are  like  cowards — one  never  goes 
alone.  If  I  allow  evil  desire  a  harbor  in 
my  heart,  my  standard  of  morality  will  be 
lowered,  I  shall  grow  reckless,  shall  care 
less  for  what  is  holy  and  just  and  good, 
shall  neglect  duties  generally,  and  in  this 
way  conform  my  life  to  the  evil  desire 
which,  like  persistent  leaven,  will  leaven  the 
whole  lump.  The  human  heart  and  life  is 
like  the  exquisite  machinery  of  a  watch. 
If  you  put  one  wheel  off  its  axis,  you  de- 
range the  whole  working.  You  cannot  be 
sinful  in  one  part  only  of  the  soul ;  man's 
life  is  an  ultimate  unit,  and  has  no  parts. 
We  talk  of  the  different  parts  of  a  man's 
mind,  but  this  is  a  language  used  to  assist 
our  feeble  comprehension.  Sin  in  the  desire 
is  sin  in  the  man — the  entire  man  ;  so  that 
the  harm  done  by  coveting  what  is  not  our 
own  is  just  the  harm  done  by  sin  when  wel- 
comed to  the  heart.      It  is  spiritual  corrup- 


l6o  THOUGHTS   ON  THE   DECALOGUE. 

tion — gangrene.  You  can  hide  it  from  hu- 
man observation,  but  that  does  not  stop  the 
inner  destruction  for  a  moment.  You  are 
carefully  cherishing  the  eggs  of  envy,  jeal- 
ousy, malice,  anger  and  revenge,  when  you 
indulge  in  your  unhallowed  desires;  and 
these  dire  monsters  will  be  hatched  and  be- 
come your  irresistible  masters  before  you 
are  aware.  How  pressing,  then,  our  fourth 
question  ! 

IV.  How  shall  we  avoid  this  evil  coveting  ? 
Will  any  mere  order  from  the  intelligence 
be  heeded  by  the  wild  desire  ?  Or  can  any 
magic  power  be  invoked  to  slay  the  desire 
and  save  the  man  ?  Full  of  depravity, 
which  is  seen  first  in  these  wicked  desires 
of  the  heart,  we  listen  hopefully  to  God's 
word  sent  to  us  by  his  saving  love :  "  Set 
your  affection  on  things  above,  not  on  things 
on  the  earth."  Here  is  the  wisdom  from 
above,  the  philosophy  of  heaven.  The  de- 
sires of  the  heart  are  not  to  be  annihilated, 
man  is  not  to  be  reduced  to  an  inert  lump,  his 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT  l6l 

passions  are  to  burn  as  brightly  as  ever,  his 
eager  heart  to  bea-fe  as  strongly,  his  eye  to 
sparkle  with  anticipation  and  his  energies 
to  leap  as  actively  as  before,  yet  not  for 
worldly  jewels,  but  for  heaven's  crown.  The 
current  is  to  run  as  swiftly  as  before,  but 
now  in  a  neiv  channel.  We  are  to  s^€^  first — 
that  is,  as  chief— i\iQ  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness. 

This  glorious  specific,  this  complete  rem- 
edy, may  have  either  a  special  or  a  general 
application.  A  man  may  find  a  single  evil 
desire  temporarily  affecting  him.  With  a 
Christian  heart  he  remembers  that  his  Re- 
deemer is  ever  at  hand.  He  calls  out  in 
the  agony  of  his  self-reproach  amid  the 
perplexity  of  his  divided  soul ;  and  in  turn- 
ing to  his  Saviour,  his  affections  are  with- 
drawn from  the  passing  evil  and  restored 
to  their  healthy  channel.  The  contempla- 
tion of  Jesus  is  the  application  of  a  magnet 
to  attract  the  desires  of  his  soul.     This  is 

a  frequent  experience  of  the  renewed,  and 
11 


1 62         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

gives   peculiar  lustre  to  the  words  of  the 
apostle,  "  Looking  unto  Jesus." 

It  Is  this  remedy  which  awaits  the  use  of 
you  who  are  disturbed  because  of  your 
worldly  longings.  You  are  writing  bitter 
things  against  yourselves,  and  feel  almost 
ready  to  despair  of  Christian  attainment. 
The  great  truth  should  be  understood  by 
you  that  you  will  never  cease  to  have  these 
worldly  longings  until  Christ  becomes  so 
lovely'  in  some  forms  of  his  character  or 
work  as  to  draw  off  these  energies  of  de- 
sire from  their  unworthy  channel.  Over- 
come every  special  worldliness  by  a  special 
heavenly  contemplation.  And  so,  generally ^ 
let  me  assure  the  unconverted  that  their 
depraved  desires  will  never  cease  until  holy 
desires  take  their  place.  "  Thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbor's,"  can  never  be  obeyed 
until  you  learn  to  covet  your  own — those 
blessed  gifts  of  heavenly  grace  which  God 
urges  upon  you,  and  which  properly  belong 
to   you.      Each   of  you,    my   unregenerate 


THE    TENTH  COMMANDMENT.  1 63 

readers,  is  to  be  renewed,  if  at  all,  by  taking 
these  very  desires  which  are  now  bounding 
after  the  world  and  turning  them  to  the 
Lord  Jesus.  You  see  at  once  that  it  will 
be  an  act  on  your  part,  an  effort,  but  an  act 
and  effort  that  will  save  your  soul.  Is  not 
the  act  worth  taking?  Is  it  not  perilous  to 
postpone  the  effort?  The  Lord  is  waiting 
for  your  reply. 

In  our  examination  of  the  Decalogue  we 
have  especially  noted  the  following  points : 

I.  That  it  is  God's  law  for  all  men  of  all 
ages. 

II.  That  none  can  appreciate  it  and  obey 
it  but  those  who  have  been  saved  by  divine 
grace. 

III.  That  it  is  eminently  and  intensely  a 
spiritual  law,  demanding  truth  in  the  inward 
parts. 

IV.  That  it  teaches  us  directly  to  honor 
God  in  his  essence  and  expression  (avoid- 
ing a  false  expression  and  using  the  true 


164         THOUGHTS   ON  THE  DECALOGUE. 

with  deep  reverence),  and  to  honor  our 
fellow-man  as  bearing  the  image  of  God, 
avoiding  his  injury  in  either  act,  thought  or 
feeling,  and  that  it  is  thus  summed  up  by 
the  formula:  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself." 

We  thus  see  that  the  gospel  Is  not  an- 
tagonistic to  the  law,  but  a  divine  way  for 
us  to  keep  the  law,  and  that  while  the  gos- 
pel saves,  in  the  very  act  of  saving  us  it 
gives  us  the  law  as  our  rule  of  life — that 
holy  law  which  God  never  intended  to  be- 
come obsolete,  but  which  reflects  his  own 
holiness  and  is  as  eternal  as  is  God  himself. 
Do  you  love  that  law  ?  There  is  no  better 
proof  of  your  salvation.  Do  you  not  love 
it?  Then  go  to  Jesus,  that  he  may  teach 
you  how  to  love  it  by  teaching  you  how 
TO  LOVE  HIM. 


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